Prix Benois de la Danse

The Benois de la Danse is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions. Founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991, it takes place each year on or around April 29 and is jury-based in its judging. The members of this jury change every year and consists of only top ballet personages.

Statuettes are given to the winners in the categories of lifelong achievement, ballerina, danseur, choreographer, composer and designer.

The Benois de la Danse recognizes with monetary awards exceptional events occurring during the previous year on stages around the world. These include dancing roles of all kinds as well as choreographic accomplishments.

History

The idea for the Benois de la Danse was initiated in Moscow and the founders succeeded in obtaining the patronage of UNESCO in the autumn of 1992. Its scheduling at the end of April is meant to coincide with the birthday of the great Alexandre Benois (1870–1960) for whom it is named.

French sculptor Igor Ustinov designed the statuette of the Benois de la Danse award in 1992. He is the son of the famous actor Peter Ustinov, a great-nephew of Alexandre Benois.

Goals of competition

• To give the Benois audience the best performances of the works that have been entered, regardless of whom they were created by.
• To bring the best representatives of different dance styles and schools together.
• To support veterans of ballet financially, with funds from the gala concerts

Members of the Benois de la Danse jury have included

Alessandra Ferri Alexander Grant Altynai Asylmuratova Claude Bessy Brigitte Lefèvre Carla Fracci Davide Bombana Frank Anderson

Galina Ulanova Helgi Tomasson Irina Kolpakova John Neumeier John Taras Karen Kain Laurent Hilaire Loipa Araújo

Nadia Nerina Patrice Bart Peter Schaufuss Rudi van Dantzig Rudolph Nureyev Sofia Golovkina Yuri Grigorovich Yvette Chauviré

Laureates of the prize^[1]

Composers

• George Kouroupos (1996)  Greece
• Michel Legrand (2012)  France

Designers

Olivier Debré (1998)  France Jaffar el Halabi (2000)  Austria

Jurgen Rose (2002)  Germany Carlos Gallardo (2007)  Argentina John Macfarlane (2015)  United Kingdom

Lifetime achievement Name Year Country Company Training Alicia Alonso 2000  Cuba National Ballet of Cuba (after New York City Ballet) Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical Rudi van Dantzig 2002  Netherlands Dutch National Ballet William Forsythe 2002  Germany Stuttgart Ballet Joffrey Ballet School Mikhail Baryshnikov 2003  United States American Ballet Theatre (after Mariinsky Ballet) Vaganova Academy Maurice Bejart 2003  France Béjart Ballet Lausanne Paris Opera Ballet School Marina Semenova 2003  Russia Bolshoi Ballet (after Mariinsky Ballet) Vaganova Academy Trisha Brown 2005  United States Trisha Brown Dance Company Mills College Hans van Manen 2005  Netherlands Dutch National Ballet Mats Ek 2006  Sweden Cullberg Ballet Laurent Hilaire[2] 2007  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Fernando Alonso 2008  Cuba National Ballet of Cuba Peter Farmer 2010  United Kingdom Ohad Naharin 2010  Israel Batsheva Dance Company Batsheva Dance Company and School of American Ballet Toer van Schayk 2011  Netherlands Dutch National Ballet Dutch National Ballet Pierre Lacotte 2012  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School

Ballerinas Name (Nationality) Year Country Company Training Nadezhda Gracheva 1992  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Isabelle Guérin 1993  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Sylvie Guillem 1994  United Kingdom Royal ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Galina Stepanenko 1995  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Dominique Khalfouni 1995  France Ballet National de Marseille (after Paris Opera Ballet) Paris Opera Ballet School Diana Vishneva 1996  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Ulyana Lopatkina 1997  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Julia Makhalina 1998  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Marie-Claude Pietragalla 1998  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Élisabeth Platel 1999  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Sue Jin Kang 1999  South Korea Stuttgart Ballet Académie de Danse Classique in Monte Carlo Julie Kent 2000  United States American Ballet Theatre Academy of the Maryland Youth Ballet and School of American Ballet Alessandra Ferri 2000  Italy La Scala La Scala Theatre Ballet School Aurélie Dupont 2002  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Anastasia Volochkova 2002  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Lucia Lacarra () 2003  Germany Bayerisches Staatsballett Víctor Ullate School of Danse Alina Cojocaru[2] 2004  United Kingdom Royal Ballet Kiev State Ballet School Svetlana Zakharova 2005  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Marie-Agnès Gillot 2005  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Ekaterina Kondaurova 2006  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Kim Joo-won 2006  South Korea Korea National Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Agnès Letestu 2007  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Svetlana Lunkina 2007  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Tamara Rojo () 2008  United Kingdom from Royal Ballet (for the Teatro San Carlo) Víctor Ullate School of Danse Silvia Azzoni 2008  Germany Hamburg Ballet Hamburg Ballet School Natalia Osipova 2009  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Kirsty Martin 2009  Australia Australian Ballet Australian Ballet School Hélène Bouchet 2010  Germany Hamburg Ballet École Nationale de Danse de Marseille Bernice Coppieters 2011  Monaco Ballets de Monte Carlo Royal Ballet School of Flanders Zhu Yan 2011  China National Ballet of China Beijing Dance Academy Alina Cojocaru[2] 2012  United Kingdom from Royal Ballet (for the Hamburg Ballet) Kiev State Ballet School Olga Smirnova[3] 2013  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Vaganova Academy Polina Semionova 2014

Choreographers Name (Nationality) Year Country Company Training John Neumeier 1992  Germany Hamburg Ballet Royal Ballet School Jiri Kylian[2] 1993  Netherlands Nederlands Dans Theatre Royal Ballet School Roland Petit 1994  France from Ballet National de Marseille (for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden) Paris Opera Ballet School Angelin Preljocaj 1995  France from Ballet Preljocaj (for the Paris Opera Ballet) Schola Cantorum Valentin Elizariev 1996  Belarus National Academic Bolshoi Ballet of Belarus Carolyn Carlson 1998  France from Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson (for the Paris Opera Ballet) San Francisco Ballet School Davide Bombana 1998  Italy from Maggio Danza Company (for Bayerisches Staatsballett) La Scala Theatre Ballet School Jiri Kylian[2] 1999  Netherlands Nederlands Dans Theatre Royal Ballet School Nacho Duato 2000  Spain Spanish National Dance Company Rambert School David Dawson 2003  United Kingdom Dutch National Ballet Royal Ballet School Édouard Lock 2003  Canada from La La La Human Steps (for the Paris Opera Ballet) Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon 2004  Netherlands Nederlands Dans Theatre Alexei Ratmansky 2005  Russia[4] from Bolshoi Ballet (for the Royal Danish Ballet) Bolshoi Ballet Academy Boris Eifman 2006  Russia from Boris Eifman Ballet (for the Saint Petersburg Ballet Theatre) Saint Petersburg Conservatory Martin Schläpfer 2007  Germany Ballet Mainz Royal Ballet School Jean-Christophe Maillot 2008  Monaco Ballets de Monte-Carlo École supérieure de danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower Wayne McGregor 2009  United Kingdom Royal Ballet José Limón School José Martínez () 2009  France Paris Opera Ballet École supérieure de danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower and Paris Opera Ballet School Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet 2011  Belgium Eastman company Performing Arts Research and Training Studios and Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle Jorma Elo 2011  United States from Boston Ballet (for Vienna State Opera Ballet and Stanislavsky Ballet Company) Finnish National Ballet School Lar Lubovitch 2012  United States Lar Lubovitch Dance Company Juilliard School Hans van Manen 2013  Netherlands Dutch National Ballet Christopher Wheeldon 2013  United Kingdom Royal Ballet Royal Ballet School

Danseurs Name (Nationality) Year Country Company Training Julio Bocca 1992  Argentina American Ballet Theater Teatro Colón Ballet School Alexander Kølpin 1992  Denmark Royal Danish Ballet Royal Danish Ballet School Andrei Uvarov 1993  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Sergei Filin 1994  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Nicolas Le Riche 1995  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Irek Mukhamedov 1996  United Kingdom Royal Ballet (after Bolshoi Ballet) Bolshoi Ballet Academy Vladimir Derevianko 1996  Germany Sächsischen Staatsoper Dresden Bolshoi Ballet Academy Gregor Seyffert 1997  Germany Komische Oper Berlin Farukh Ruzimatov 1997  Russia Mariinsky Ballet Vaganova Academy Manuel Legris 1998  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Vladimir Malakhov 1998  Germany Stuttgart Ballet (after Bolshoi Ballet, etc.) Bolshoi Ballet Academy Nikolay Tsiskaridze 1999  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Academy Jean-Guillaume Bart 2000  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Ángel Corella () 2000  United States American Ballet Theatre Víctor Ullate School of Danse Jeffry Gerodias 2002  United States Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Jiří Bubeníček 2002  Germany Hamburg Ballet Lukáš Slavický 2003  Germany Bavarian State Ballet Laurent Hilaire[2] 2004  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Lloyd Riggins 2004  Germany Hamburg Ballet Orlando Southern Ballet School Mathieu Ganio 2005  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Di Wang 2006  China from Guangzhou Dance company (for the Nagoya International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition) Leonid Sarafanov 2006  Russia from Mariinsky Ballet (for the Vienna State Opera Ballet) Kiev State Ballet School Hervé Moreau 2007  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Marcelo Gomes 2008  United States American Ballet Theatre Helena Lobato and Dalal Aschcar ballet schools Carlos Acosta 2008  United Kingdom from Royal Ballet (for the Bolshoi Ballet) Cuban National Ballet School Ivan Vasiliev 2009  Russia Bolshoi Ballet (after National Academic Bolshoi Ballet of Belarus) Belarusian State Choreographic College Joaquín De Luz () 2009  United States New York City Ballet Víctor Ullate School of Danse David Hallberg 2010  United States American Ballet Theatre Ballet Arizona Thiago Bordin 2010  Germany Hamburg Ballet Mannheim Akademie des Tanzes Fernando Romero 2011  Spain Lope de Vega Theatre Manolo Marín Dance School Rolando Sarabia 2011  United States Miami City Ballet (after National Ballet of Cuba) National Ballet School in Havana Semion Chudin 2011  Russia Stanislavsky Ballet Company Novosibirsk Choreographic College Mathias Heymann 2012  France Paris Opera Ballet Paris Opera Ballet School Carsten Jung 2012  Germany Hamburg Ballet Hamburg Ballet School Alban Lendorf 2013  Denmark Royal Danish Ballet Royal Danish Ballet School Vadim Muntagirov 2013  Russia English National Ballet Perm Ballet School Herman Cornejo 2014  United States American Ballet Theater Instituto Superior de Arte at Teatro Colón

By categories

Number Country 23  France 21  Russia 16  Germany 11  United States 9  United Kingdom 6  Netherlands 2  Argentina  China  Cuba  Italy  Monaco  Spain  South Korea 1  Australia  Austria  Belarus  Belgium  Canada  Denmark  Greece  Israel  Sweden

Number Country Laureate's company 16  France Paris Opera Ballet 10  Russia Bolshoi Ballet 8  Russia Mariinsky Ballet 7  Germany Hamburg Ballet 7  United Kingdom Royal ballet 5  United States American Ballet Theatre 4  Netherlands Dutch National Ballet 3  Netherlands Nederlands Dans Theatre 3  Germany Stuttgart Ballet 2  Cuba National Ballet of Cuba 2  France Ballet National de Marseille 2  Monaco Ballets de Monte Carlo

Number Country Main training school[5] 20  France Paris Opera Ballet School 12  Russia Bolshoi Ballet Academy 9  Russia Vaganova Academy 5  United Kingdom Royal Ballet School 4  Spain Víctor Ullate School of Danse 3  Ukraine Kiev State Ballet School 2  Italy La Scala Theatre Ballet School 2  United States School of American Ballet 2  France École supérieure de danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower 2  Germany Hamburg Ballet School

Footnotes

1. Prix Benois de la Danse, Laureates
2. repeat prize winner
3. ""Ballet Oscar" winners honored at Bolshoi". Voice of Russia. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
4. to be verified since he was ballet master of the Bolshoi Ballet from 2004 to 2009
5. annual curriculum only

External links

• Prix Benois de la Danse website (English)
• Prix Benois de la Danse website (Russian)