Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Prix de Lausanne opened in Lausanne Tuesday evening with an announcement that tickets for the final selection performance Sunday are sold out.
The international dance competition, which has grown in stature in recent years but also in popularity as a hometown event, began with its usual flourish. Eighty-one handsome young dancers, ages 15-18, from 20 countries were selected from a record 226 applicants from 36 countries.
They are surrounded for the week by nervous tension, excitement and a crowd of enthusiastic followers. Given hometown crowds who can’t be in Lausanne for the competition, the Prix de Lausanne blog and particularly the collection of videoblogs are already proving popular.
This is the first year that more boys than girls have been selected. Japan has the largest single contingent, 16 students, with China following with 14 students.
Several of the selections are open to the public, for CHF10 (children 7-15 free) and CHF20 for Saturday’s events. The finals can be watched live (streamed) Sunday starting at 15:00.
Two special events this year are a short interlude performance staged Sunday by the Shanghai Dance School, one of the Prix de Lausanne partner schools, to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of Switzerland’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1950. “Love Flowing towards the Past”, an original composition by choreographer Zhong Lu, will feature eight of students from the school. Two principals from the Royal Ballet of London will perform during a second interlude.
Trailer for the Prix de Lausanne
This is the 38th year for the annual week-long event that taps some of the world’s best upcoming dance talent for a series of workshops, master classes and performances. The young dancers compete, showing their skills in classical and contemporary dance, for a series of scholarships to start them on professional dance careers. The coveted Prix de Lausanne scholarship offers CHF16,000 living expenses and a year of tuition at a choice of top dance schools among the 60 that are partners of the competition.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 27 January 2010.
Filed under: Education
Tags: arts, Arts and entertainment, ballet, boys, China, classical, contemporary, dance competition, dance schools, girls, Japan, Lausanne, Prix de Lausanne 2010, scholarships, Switzerland, videoblogs
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