International Ballet Festival Benoit de la Danse

On June 8-9, in Moscow, on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Benois de la Danse International Ballet Festival will be held for the 28th time. Despite Covid-19, viewers will once again see the brightest new works in the field of dance FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. Tickets can still be purchased at the box office and online on the Bolshoi Theater website - www.bolshoi.ru, as well as on the Benois Center website - www.benois. theatre.ru

On June 8, viewers will see a Gala Concert of Ballet Stars - nominees for the 2020-2021 Benois de la Danse Prize and the awarding of the winners. Before the start of the gala concert, the jury chaired by Yuri Grigorovich will announce the names of the new winners of the Benois de la Danse Prize.

On June 9, the audience will see the gala concert “Stars of Benoit de la Danse - laureates of different years”.

“Perhaps the main thing that I would like to highlight, speaking about the program of this difficult year - the gala will feature works created during the pandemic, and some - especially for Benois concerts,” said Nina Kudryavtseva, artistic director of the Benoit de la Danse Festival. Luri.

On the first evening, Leonid Sarafanov will receive his Benois statuette, to whom the Prize has been reaching for 15 years! Benoit de la Danse was awarded to Leonid in 2006 for his role as Albert in the Vienna National Opera Ballet. And a little later, at the gala concert, Leonid will present his Solo, which is staged especially for this evening. It will be a world premiere! At the same gala, the soloists of the Hanover Ballet will present a new work by Marco Goecke, nominated for the Benois Prize 2020-2021 for the ballet Kunstkamera. A scene from the ballet Hotel Cecile (nominated by Andrei Kaidanovsky) will be shown by the leading dancers of the Bavarian State Ballet. An excerpt from the ballet Anna Karenina by Yuri Possokhov (nomination 2020-2021) will be performed, together with Temur Suluashvili, by the soloists of Joffrey Ballet (Chicago) Victoria Jayani and Alberto Velasquez.The soloist of the Ballet Dresden-Frankfurt Anne Jung and her partner will perform a duet choreographed by Jacopo Godani, staged especially for this gala. Flamenco dancer Jesús Carmona, founder of the Company of Jesús Carmona, will present the solo in his choreography.

The prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Yekaterina Krysanova will perform the Pas de deux from Act II of Giselle. She was nominated for the title role in this performance (edited by A. Ratmansky). Prima ballerina of New York City Ballet, Sarah Mearns will present her nomination - Solo, directed by Moers Canningham. The soloist of the Semperoper Ballet, Hon Vallejo, will present the number “Waiting for You Again”.

On the second evening, the world ballet star, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater and La Scala Theater Etoile Svetlana Zakharova will perform a duet from Mauro Bigonzetti’s ballet Caravaggio with Jacopo Tissi. Bolshoi premiere Semyon Chudin will present a world premiere - Solo, which is staged for him by Ilya Zhivoi. Etuals of the Paris Opera - Amandine Albisson and Mathieu Gagnot will show "3 Preludes" to music by S. Rachmaninoff, choreographed by American choreographer Ben Stevenson. And Jesus Carmona will dance a solo from the ballet The Game, for which he was nominated.

The gala concert will also be attended by the stars of the Bolshoi Theater with their partners: Ekaterina Krysanova, as well as the prima ballerina of the Finnish National Ballet Maria Kochetkova, the premier of the Mikhailovsky Theater Leonid Sarafanov and artists of the Mariinsky Theater. Prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater Yekaterina Kondaurova will present Flashback with Roman Belyakov. And the Premier of the Mariinsky Theater, Kimin Kim, will perform the Pas de deux from the ballet Talisman with the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Yevgenia Obraztsova.

Age category: 16+.