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Erik Bruhn competition


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National Ballet of Canada Corps de Ballet members Félix Paquet (22) and Calley Skalnik (21) will represent the company at The Twelfth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 7:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Choreographic Associate Robert Binet creates a new contemporary work commissioned by the National Ballet, Self and Soul, as part of the competition.

 

Other participants are:  

Cassandra Trenary (23) and Gabe Stone Shayer (23) from American Ballet Theatre,

 

Madoka Sugai (22) and Christopher Evans (22) from The Hamburg Ballet, 

Chisato Katsura (20) and Harrison Churches (20) from The Royal Ballet 

Natasha Sheehan (17) and Angelo Greco (21) San Francisco 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 Helgi Tomasson (San Francisco Ballet).

Competing for the choreographic prize are Jeffrey Cirio (American Ballet Theatre), Marc Jubete (The Hamburg Ballet), Calvin Richardson (The Royal Ballet) and Myles Thatcher (San Francisco Ballet).

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Congratulations to both Sheehan and Greco. Another winner coming from Teatro alla Scala Ballet.

 

It's a funny competition though, in being such a small group of companies to choose from ("dancers must come from one of the companies that Bruhn was associated with during his lifetime"), and the judges being from those same companies. I'm curious how the judging actually works - if there are technical and artistic point awards, and are company A.D.s not able to vote for their own dancers, or is the point system set up to so as to mitigate bias? Just wondering....

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It looks like from the program notes it used to take place once every three or four years on average but since the current direction of the NBOC has taken over they do it very very often. I was surprised it didn't get more attention or coverage from press this time round but I suppose people lose interest when you do something a lot. I too wonder how the judging works and why this year it seems you are now allowed to nominate people more than once. 

Edited by JumpFrog
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The AD's who are the judges cannot vote for their own company dancers/choreographers.

 

I don't believe the company's publicity department bothers to promote it much and doesn't really care whether it gets much coverage in the media, because after all it is only one performance to sell tickets to. The ballet aficionados will buy tix with or without publicity. I don't think people lose interest; I see the same people year after year at the Bruhn. 

 

It currently occurs about every second year. Usually it's in the March season but this year it was in November because the company will be totally occupied with mounting their new Pinocchio in March.

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The competition has changed a little over the years. I suspect Bruhn didn't leave exhaustive instructions in his will, apart from wanting to include young dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the National Ballet of Canada in the competition. After the first competition in 1988, ABT was so ticked off that neither of its competitors, Bonnie Moore or Wes Chapman, had won a prize the company declined to send competitors to the second competition. But Bruhn worked with many companies over the years, so finding a replacement company wasn't too difficult, although, for example, I don't exactly associate Bruhn and the Hamburg Ballet. Initially there was no choreography competition, and what qualified for the "contemporary" segment of the competition wasn't strictly defined. Eventually the rules established a cut-off date of 1960, and in response the competitors from the Royal Danish Ballet that year performed the pas de deux from Agon as their "classical" piece, and a brand new pas de deux in the manner of Bournonville as their contemporary piece.

 

The first competition was televised, albeit not live, and the winners that year were Rose Gad from the Royal Danish Ballet and Errol Pickford from the Royal Ballet. Incidentally, their non-winning partners, Lloyd Riggins and Viviana Durante, went on to have especially enduring careers. Riggins is still performing. Natalia Makarova was a guest of the first competition and performed during the jury deliberations. You may have seen the video of her priceless monologue chronicling her most mortifying stage disasters.

 

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"After the first competition in 1988, ABT was so ticked off that neither of its competitors, Bonnie Moore or Wes Chapman, had won a prize the company declined to send competitors to the second competition."

 

Well at least they had the right attitude about the whole thing.  ;)

It's probably just me, but ABT often seems to demand that it be regarded as the 'best of the best' without actually doing everything that entails. It's not just about the marketing behind a company after all.

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