Prix de Lausanne names 2017 Prizewinners

2017 Prix de Lausanne Finals SwitzerlandA large audience viewed the 2017 Prix de Lausanne Finals last weekend, both online and in-person at Théâtre de Beaulieu in Switzerland. In the end, eight young dancers were awarded a scholarship allowing them to choose among the 68 prestigious partner schools and companies of the competition. (See the list below.) Non-awarded candidates took part in the Networking Forum the following day and had the opportunity to be chosen by the directors of the partner institutions.

 

The Prix de Lausanne once again attracted young and promising dancers from all over the world. Exactly 67 out of the 74 selected candidates participated in the 45th edition. Of these, 10 hailed from Australia.

 

Australian dancer Jessi Seymour at the 2017 Prix de LausanneOnly 20 candidates were chosen at the Selections to advance to the Finals, of those two were Australian – 15-year-old Jessi Seymour and 16-year-old Joshua Jack Price.

 

During the week leading up to Selections, jury members observed the candidates performing their classical and contemporary variations. This year, the director of the Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, was the president of the nine-jury-member panel. As internationally-renowned dance professionals, they finally selected the most promising talents.

 

The 8 Prizewinners of the 2017 Prix de Lausanne are:

 

#410 – Michele Esposito – 17 years old – Italy

#306 – Marina Fernandes da Costa Duarte – 17 years old – Brazil

#415 – Taisuke Nakao – 17 years old – Japan

#201 – Koyo Yamamoto – 15 years old – Japan

#102 – Lauren Hunter – 15 years old – United-States 

#423 – Stanislaw Wegrzyn – 18 years old – Poland

#120 – Diana Georgia Ionescu – 16 years old – Romania

#406 – Sunu Lim – 17 years old – South Korea

 

2017 Prix de Lausanne Finals SwitzerlandItaly’s Michele Esposito (#410) also won the Contemporary Dance Prize for his interpretation of Nijinsky and the Best Swiss Candidate Prize for his performance of Nijinsky and La Bayadere.

 

Brazil’s Marina Fernandes da Costa Duarte (#306) was named the Audience Favourite.

 

The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Artistic Award also went to a Brazilian – 16-year-old dancer Denilson Almeida (#205.)

 

During the Finals’ interlude, the audience enjoyed an original creation of John Neumeier called John’s dream, performed by the National Youth Ballet of Germany. They also saw the grand pas de deux choreographed by Christian Spuck and performed by The Royal Ballet’s Principal Dancer Lauren Cuthbertson and Ballett Zürich’s Soloist Alexander Jones.

 

During the week of the competition, the Prix de Lausanne’s daily live-streamed sessions were watched more than 500,000 times by viewers online (on ARTE Concert, its website and Facebook).

 

Shelly Power, artistic director and chief executive officer for the Prix de Lausanne, stated, “Thanks to the live streaming, the Prix de Lausanne is proud to share this unique experience worldwide.”

 

For further information, visit www.prixdelausanne.org.

 

Photo (top): Australian candidates Jessi Seymour (#107) and Joshua Jack Price (#210) warm-up on stage for Finals with other candidates. Photo (left): Australian dancer Jessi Seymour at the barre. Photo (right): Michele Esposito (#410) performs at Finals. Photos by Gregory Batardon, courtesy of Prix de Lausanne.