Dale Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 A release: Emma Hawes and Brendan Saye The Erik Bruhn Prize Competitors Guillaume Côté Creates New Work for Choreographic Prize October 9, 2012... Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that Corps de Ballet members Emma Hawes and Brendan Saye will represent the company at The Tenth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté will compete for the Choreographic Prize, creating a new contemporary work commissioned by the National Ballet. The companies participating in this year’s competition are: American Ballet Theatre, The Hamburg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet and The Royal Danish Ballet. Each company will send two dancers and one choreographer to the competition. The competitors for The Erik Bruhn Prize are Devon Teuscher and Calvin Royal III from American Ballet Theatre, Xue Lin and Aleix Martinez from The Hamburg Ballet, Francesca Hayward and James Hay from The Royal Ballet and Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas from The Royal Danish Ballet. Judging the competition will be Artistic Directors Karen Kain, Kevin McKenzie (American Ballet Theatre), John Neumeier (The Hamburg Ballet), Kevin O’Hare (The Royal Ballet) and Nikolaj Hübbe (The Royal Danish Ballet). The evening will be hosted by Principal Dancer Sonia Rodriguez and Artist-in-Residence Rex Harrington. Audience members can cast their vote for their favourite male and female dancer as well as their favourite new contemporary work in the Audience Choice Awards. The repertoire will be announced shortly along with the choreographers competing for the Choreographic Prize. One of the most acclaimed and revered male dancers of the 20th century, Erik Bruhn personified the danseur noble tradition in all its classical, regal glory. His affiliation with The National Ballet of Canada was a lengthy and fruitful one, culminating in his Artistic Directorship of the company from 1983 until his untimely death in 1986. Mr. Bruhn was always keenly interested in the development of younger dancers and in a codicil to his will, Mr. Bruhn left part of his estate for the establishment of The Erik Bruhn Prize, which was to be awarded to one male and one female dancer who “reflect such technical ability, artistic achievement and dedication as I endeavoured to bring to dance.” Since it began in 1988, the competition has showcased the talents of many of the finest young dancers from some of the companies with whom Mr. Bruhn was most closely associated: American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Hamburg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet. Competitors for the prize must be between 18 and 23 years old and are selected by the Artistic Directors of their respective companies. Each pair performs a classical pas de deux and variation and a contemporary pas de deux or solo work. Each participant receives a medal and the winners each receive a prize of $7,500 and a sculpture by Canadian artist Jack Culiner generously donated by Artcast. The winner of the Choreographic Prize, established in 2009, will also receive a Jack Culiner sculpture in addition to a $2,000 cash prize. Link to comment
kbarber Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Here's info on the NBOC contestants: Emma Hawes was born in Delaware, Ohio. She trained at the BalletMet's Dance Academy in Columbus, Ohio and Canada’s National Ballet School and became a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2011. Brendan Saye was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He trained at Canada’s National Ballet School and in 2008, became a YOU dance Apprentice. Brendan joined The National Ballet of Canada in 2009. Recently, he danced the role of Romeo in the world premiere of Romeo and Juliet by Alexei Ratmansky and Horatio in the North American premiere of Hamlet by Kevin O’Day. He also made his debut as an Icicle in The Nutcracker. While a student at Canada’s National Ballet School, he was the recipient of both the Peter Dwyer Award and Christopher Ondaatje Prize. Link to comment
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