12 Aussies accepted to 2016 Prix de Lausanne

Once again, Australia will have major representation at the upcoming Prix de Lausanne on January 31-February 7, 2016. Out of the 292 candidates (235 girls and 57 boys) from 36 different nationalities that applied to participate in the video selection, the panel selected 71 young dancers (43 girls and 28 boys) representing 19 different nationalities to go through to the next stage of the competition. These were in addition to the three young dancers chosen at the pre-selection in Buenos Aires.

Of the 71 video-selected candidates, 12 hail from Australia and one from New Zealand. The only other country equaling the same amount of candidates as Australia is Japan, and South Korea claims the highest number of competitors with 13.

Of Australia’s dozen candidates, eight are girls and four are boys:

– Lania Atkins (The Dance Spot)

– Emily Bray (The Jane Moore Academy of Ballet)

– Edward Cooper (Sayers Dance Centre)

– Aiden Foster (Charlesworth Ballet Institute)

– Brayden Gallucci (Alegria Dance Studios)

– Makensie Henson (Prudence Bowen Atelier)

– Riley Lapham (The Australian Ballet School)

– Grace Robson (The Royal Conservatorium)

– Naomi Sano (Sydney Ballet School)

– George Susman (The Dance Spot)

– Natalie Taylor (Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy)

– Freya Wilkinson (The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet)

Plus, two other dancers are linked to Australia, bringing the total number of dancers tied to Australia up to 14. The Kiwi candidate, Katherine Sonnekus, was studying at the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy. Plus, Kim Seu of South Korea was a student of The Australian Ballet School.

The jury in charge of the video selection was made up of: Amanda Bennett, Prix de Lausanne artistic director and director of Balletschule Theater Basel; Nicola Biasutti, teacher at the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart; Jason Beechey, rector of the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz in Dresden; Kathleen McNurney, artistic director of the dance company of the Luzerner Theater in Switzerland; Dmitry Govorukhin, a former dancer with Ballet Zurich and current assistant director at Yen Han Dance Center; Nicola A’Hern, a teacher at The Royal Ballet School in London; and Co-Artistic Directors of the Ecole de danse de Genève and the Ballet Junior Genève, Sean Wood and Patrice Delay.

For further information, visit www.prixdelausanne.org. Check out the complete list of candidates here.

Congratulations to the Australian and New Zealand candidates!

Image (top): Prix de Lausanne candidates George Susman (left) and Lania Atkins (right) from The Dance Spot. Photos courtesy of The Dance Spot.