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Prix de Lausanne 2020


Pas de Quatre

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59 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Lin Zhang was very nice but not in the league of Yu Hang ( now at the RBS) when she danced a couple of years back. 

 

2016 winner Yu Hang is now an artist with the Royal Ballet.

I've watched the final but haven't seen all of the selections yet. Like you, I was more impressed with the contemporary variations this year.

Marco Masciari was superb as expected but I wish he hadn't chosen that classical variation simply because I don't like it :D. He danced it wonderfully though and was even better in the final in comparison to the selections.

There were at least a couple of mistakes with the music this year which I haven't seen before and seemed to confuse the commentators!

Edited by invisiblecircus
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Capybara, I agree that it is not appropriate to give names that were not announced (the original post suggested  to me that they were). However, I’m not sure why you think that the dancers would be known to the majority of the readers of the forum. 

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On 09/02/2020 at 10:35, DD Driver said:

 

I was happy to see a candidate from The Australian Ballet School (ABS) at the Prix this year!  I'm not sure of the backstory to this but it was encouraging that the school allowed it.  ABS has been quite reluctant to allow students to do comps. This school is a filter into The Australian Ballet (TAB) and students don't know if they will get a contract until graduation.  So I welcome students being empowered to take whatever opportunities are available while they are in training. 

 

I'm not sure why you would say ABS "has been quite reluctant to allow students to do comps".

 

The ABS website states "Select senior students are offered exciting opportunities to participate in a number of international ballet competitions including the Prix de Lausanne, the Asian Pacific International Ballet Competitions held biennially in Tokyo, and the Beijing International Ballet Competition held biennially in Beijing." This is borne out by anecdotal evidence from former students. It's also fairly well evident from those who do get chosen or encouraged or extra-coached (outside school hours) that they're the ones who probably won't suit the company's requirements, for example Hannah O'Neill (première danseuse with Paris Opéra Ballet) who was personally coached by then-school principal Marilyn Rowe for both YAGP and PdL. 

 

Also, ABS proudly declares on its website that it is a PdL Partner School.

 

ABS is actually partially federal government funded and although much fee assistance is privately or philanthropically provided, qualifying students can also get fees paid with federal Vocational Education and Training loans, as the full-time courses qualify as Further Education.

 

Most of the small schools such as Tanya Pearson, Prudence Bowen etc are very much private fee-paying schools and they are the ones who encourage their students into comps as it's a business decision for them.

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That is good to hear Sophoife! 

A couple of girls I know there did not feel free to enter competitions.  Maybe they did not test this out by proactively asking.  I expect some students think/hope that they are in with a good chance to get a contract with the company and so choose to focus on that alone. 

 

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...maybe the ones who do enter comps from ABS are the ones who want to work outside Australia, as it's their only real opportunity to be seen...if you check the bios on the TAB site, the ones who've done comps tend to be the ones who didn't train at ABS.

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18 hours ago, Karen said:

 However, I’m not sure why you think that the dancers would be known to the majority of the readers of the forum. 

 

I was under the impression that many (not a majority!) did because  a number of members of this forum are keen RBS watchers and there have been recent discussions about the students who featured in the RB's Coppelia.

 

 

 

Edited by capybara
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Have looked at the finals now and do think the Brazilian boy Joao Vitor Santana (407) was very good in his classical variation too and enjoyed the two South Korean girls Soomin Kim and a prize winner Chaeyeon Kang in addition to those mentioned previously. 

It was a shame Kotomi Yamada (317) from the Princess Grace Academy broke her toe as I enjoyed watching her in class and I'm sure she would have made the finals she looks like one to watch anyway. 

It was definitely a year for Contemporary though for me ...everyone danced this section amazingly well. 

Will be interesting to see which Companies/Schools these students will be joining including some who didn't make the finals. 

 

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On 08/02/2020 at 10:20, Sabine0308 said:

Congratulations to all of them! I am especially happy to see Lin Zhang among the winners, as she captured my heart with her "Giselle" and a freaky "Rossini cards". Marco as 1st winner is no surprise. For the third year in a row, a student from the Academie de Princesse Grace Monaco has won the Prix. And always has it been highly deserved. What a great school!! It was very endearing that he dedicated his prize to Kotomi Yamada who broke her toe during the Prix week and could not make it into the finals.

Ava Arbuckle won the Nureyev Prize which surprised me but now I see it was for being the best young talent and at age 15, she did indeed a marvellous job. I wonder if the Nurejev Prize changed its "header"? Because I know Shale Wagman won it for great artistry back in 2018. 

Looking forward to see them hopefully onstage some day.💖

 

I’ve just started to look at the results. I used to attend regularly when I lived winters in Switzerland.

 

I guess that we all look for the ones who come from where we live. I’m mostly in the US for the moment, but I tend to seek out dancers, usually women first, from Russia and related to Russia. Were there any this year? Do they have much presence these days?

 

Having only viewed several Prize Winners, the name Ava Arbuckle (Woman) (USA) did catch my eye. She has graceful long lines that I really like and other qualities, such as fineness and softness of flow, that I strongly associate with dancers from Russia. I think that she’s lovely.

 

Lin Zhang had beautiful hops on pointe in her Giselle. I wish them all much success.

 


1) Marco Masciari
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHPFFvA3-Jw

2) Ava Arbuckle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4PxtevZItE

3) Joao Vitor Santana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAOEcpcwuBc


4) Lin Zhang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm9BY2XVbEE


5) Chaeyeon Kang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaRvHeCEyRs

6) Matei Holeleu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssh0zSCtABA

7) Augusto Vitor Vaz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAOEcpcwuBc

😎 Yuyan Wang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAtV4sNprEs


 

 

Edited by Buddy
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On 09/02/2020 at 07:16, Pas de Quatre said:

 RBS danced after the interval and were wonderful - particularly the three in the extract from Rhapsody (don't have their names to hand) who looked completely professional!

 

The RBS pieces are now on YouTube (thanks to Sophia on Dansomanie for the links)


https://youtu.be/lhdBugHv7EM  (Larina Waltz)
https://youtu.be/hY36y4I7O-s   (Rhapsody extracts)

 

Edited to add that I just checked the Rhapsody link and found that it doesn't start till around 18 seconds in.

 

Edited by Bluebird
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@Buddy there was supposed to be a girl from Vaganova but she wasn't there. So there was only a boy from Vaganova, Vladislav Hodasevich (from Belarus). I have no idea why there weren't more dancers from this renowned school, maybe they didn't apply or were not selected. I was surprised, to be honest.

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On 11/02/2020 at 13:13, Sabine0308 said:

@Buddy there was supposed to be a girl from Vaganova but she wasn't there. So there was only a boy from Vaganova, Vladislav Hodasevich (from Belarus). I have no idea why there weren't more dancers from this renowned school, maybe they didn't apply or were not selected. I was surprised, to be honest.

Thank you, Sabine. As classical dancers they are exceptional. Hopefully they'll be more numerous in the future.

 

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My understanding from DS is that students from Vaganova who are happy to work in Russia and are of high enough standard would see no need to bother with PdL so those who do go either want to look for work outside Russia or do not feel they are likely to get offered a place in Russia (sometimes this may not be to do with quality - one year I recall DS saying one of the boys who went to PdL was quite short, which is not generally liked in Russian companies). Tbh the 2 big companies in Russia have such a huge corps they do take a lot of students every year- in DSs cohort of 5, 2 went to Bolshoi and 3 to Mariinsky. And there are plenty of other highly respected smaller companies (Mikhailovsky and Stanislavsky for a start). And they already (a bit like RBS students) consider themselves to be in the best school in the world so where's the gain in going to a comp if you don't want the prize on offer?

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7 hours ago, CeliB said:

...And they already (a bit like RBS students) consider themselves to be in the best school in the world so where's the gain in going to a comp if you don't want the prize on offer?

To broaden their horizon and to learn and make friends outside of their bubble? From my understanding, PdL is not just about the competition but also about meeting students and (former) dancers and  choreographers from allover the world without the need to travel to all these countries. It's a week with intense experiences. 

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I understand that Maria Kochetkova was in her final year at Moscow State Academy 2002 when she did the PdL.  She had been told that she was short (1.52m or 5 foot) and had a short neck so maybe felt that she would not get the opportunities in Russian companies.  Her win led her to The Royal Ballet and then ENB before happiness at San Francisco Ballet. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmRpNwb0NZ0

 

Edited by DD Driver
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I think it costs quite a bit of money to take part in the Prix so my feeling would be that although it is probably a wonderful experience all round for the students you are still probably not going to take part unless you are looking for schools or Companies to join as it’s too expensive just for a ‘jolly’ 

 

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On ‎08‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 23:21, capybara said:

The absence of candidates from the UK is a concern when one considers the amazing range of experiences that competitors have been given this week, quite apart from the competitive element. And they have also mixed with new people, lived in a different country, coped with language difficulties, met with disappointment as well as success. All this helps to build the artists of the future. But, for some reason, the UK seems to choose not to participate, just to 'collect' winners for their 'top' schools!!!!!

 

 

I thought the RBS had previously said that the timing was academically bad for them, or something?  If so, that might well apply to other UK companies as well.

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It could be a rush preparing the entry videos in the first few weeks of the Autumn term, but I really can't see how one week away at the  beginning of February would be a problem. For the younger candidates it might mean rescheduling a few mock GCSEs but surely this wouldn't be insurmountable. 

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It would probably be the dancers, but as dancers have to fund their auditions all over Europe and the rest of the world, it is actually a good way to be seen by many company and school directors in one place.  So I would consider it value for money.  I believe PdL do also have some funds available to help those in need.  

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I know from talking to various entities, parents, teachers, directors, that many headline vocational schools,national and international, sometimes do not consider involvement in competitions, even Priz and such like because of the interruption to their  school schedule. To prepare  a candidate to make a video entry first , let alone rehearse suficiently the variations required, means altering studio time or timetabled lessons for student, pianist, teacher and  colleagues, or find mutually acceptable free time . Time and  studios not being infinite even in the biggest schools. Futures for most of their graduates is assured by their name, so participation is not deemed essential. This excuse was frequently used at my DD's old school. Deadlines for videos were frequently missed because decisions and selections were not made early enough for who was chosen to go and with what variation. Instead of discussing at the end of the summer term and calling students back early or contacting them during the hols, opportunities were missed . The other excuse was that teachers could not be spared to accompany pupils to competitions. And of course there was absolutely no possible way of entering anything without their permission. So stage time was practically none existent . It is a little better now. I suggested years ago, and I was not alone,  that they should prepare group entries in class work or repertoire class , instead of solos  so that the maximum number could participate, and guess what... now my DD isn't there, they have done just that. I am pleased though for those that got a chance this year and I like to think that I helped to convince the board and teaching staff of the benefits . Long may it continue, because it is good for team building and morale.  

 

Independent schools however have a vested interest in projecting their students and these are frequently found on the  competition circuit. One competition frequently leads to another invite. another scolarship , another gala performance, and many of these  students end up with considerable stage experience and artistic confidence , which sometimes  reveals itself alongside the  technically clean but colder artistically vocational students. Even the very  'plane, train and automobile' , 'another suitcase in another hotel hall', another tutu in another changing room becomes an ordinary routine for the seasoned competition traveller and such professionalism becomes an advantage. It was the stark contrast between the old vocational school productions and the natural exuberance of competitions like Dance World Cup, that place perfomers like those of 'the Greatest Dancer' on stage, that convinced me that competition participation was beneficial as part of the learning experience even for vocational schools; chance to engage with others, chance to control the nerves to the big occasion, chance to grow into an artistic identity, chance to exchange ideas, experience cultural differences and a widening of artistic influences.

 

I am sad to see that Varna has been postponed this year for lack of funding. I hope that it can be rescued in the future. 

 

Youth of America though continues to grow.

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