WORLD BALLET HOLIDAY ON THE HISTORICAL SCENE OF THE BIG THEATER

On May 21 and 22, in Moscow, at the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Benois de la Dance International Ballet Festival will be held for the 27th time. Spectators will see the most striking works in the field of dance from around the world.

On May 21, the audience will see a gala concert of ballet stars - 2019 Prize nominees and award winners. At the beginning of the evening, a jury chaired by Yuri Grigorovich will announce the names of the new laureates of the Benoit Prize 2019. It is already known that the Prize "For Life in Art" was awarded to a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts, Jiri Kilian. In addition to the nominees, the prima ballerina of the Hamburg Ballet Anna Laudere - this year’s laureate of the Russian-Italian Prize “Benoit-meat”, as well as soloists of the Hubbart Street Dance company from Chicago - they will receive the Prize for Crystal Payte, will take part in the gala concert 2017 Benois laureate, and will present her choreography.

On May 22, the audience awaits Benoit de la Dance - to the Year of the Theater - a gala concert of ballet stars - Prize winners of different years. The evening program includes classic, neo-classical fragments, as well as works by young contemporary choreographers. Among the participants are Olga Smirnova, Maria Kochetkova, Sylvia Atstsoni, Alexander Ryabko, Anna Laudere, Edwin Revazov, Maya Makhateli, Daniel Camargo, Victoria Jayani, Timur Suluashvili and other stars of the ballet world, as well as artists of the Theater named after Vakhtangov in choreographic scenes of Angelica Kholina.

Among the nominees of Benoit de la Dance-2019 and those invited to participate in the festival are the stars of 18 of the world’s leading ballet companies:

Joffrey Ballet (USA)
Ballet Colorado (USA)
Ballet of the Paris Opera
Ballet San Francisco
Berlin State Ballet
Bolshoi Theater of Russia
Washington Ballet
Vienna State Ballet
Winnipeg Royal Ballet (Canada)
Hamburg Ballet (Germany)
Malpaso Companies (Cuba)
Companies "House of Shapes" (Sweden)
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (USA)
Netherlands National Ballet
New York City Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet (USA)
Zurich Ballet
Swedish Royal Ballet

The chairman of the jury of the Benois Prize 2019 is YURI GRIGOROVICH. The jury consists of:

DERK BADENHORST - Director General of the South African International Ballet Competition, Director of the Mzansi Ballet and KuDanuA School

TED BRANDSEN - Director of the National Ballet of the Netherlands

SVETLANA ZAKHAROVA - Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia

ANA LAGUNA - International star, choreographer-tutor

ANGES LETESTIU - Etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, costume designer.

VLADIMIR MALAKHOV - International star, teacher, choreographer

RACHEL MUR - President and CEO of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Tickets can be purchased at the box office of the Bolshoi Theater: 7-495-455-55-55; online: www.bolshoi.ru; and at the Benoit Center: + 7-916-106-04-14

Prize Information:

The Benois de la Dansé International Ballet Prize, known worldwide as the Ballet Oscar, is awarded annually for the most outstanding works in the field of choreography over the past year.

The Benois de la Danse prize was established in 1991 in Moscow by the International Association of Choreography Figures, now the International Union of Choreography Figures, and was presented for the first time in the same year on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

From the first day of the existence of the Program, its artistic director and, ex officio, the chairman of the jury has been the president of the International Union of Choreography Figures, an outstanding choreographer Yuri Grigorovich. The Directorate and Organizer of the Program is the Benoit Center public non-profit organization. The author of the Prize figurine is the famous sculptor Igor Ustinov, a representative of the renowned Benois family.

Annually replaced by an international jury consisting of the most respected figures of world choreography: leaders of the largest ballet companies, prominent choreographers, famous teachers, world ballet stars, nominates nominees and, working throughout the year, ultimately determines the best.

From the very beginning, in 1992, UNESCO adopted this project under its patronage, praising its huge creative potential and ability to influence the development of ballet in Russia and the world. In 1996, the Prize was included in the UNESCO program “World Decade of Culture”.

In 2002, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation included the Project in the Federal Program “Cultural Heritage of Russia”.

In 2009, the Benoit de la Dance project received patronage and the right to the logo of the European Cultural Parliament as a Program of International Importance.

For 26 years of its existence, the Benoit de la Dance Prize was awarded in Moscow, at the Bolshoi Theater and the State Kremlin Palace, at the UNESCO Palace in Paris, at the National Theater in Warsaw, at the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin, at the State Theater in Stuttgart.

In 2002, the Project, which expanded to the framework of the World Ballet Festival, again returned to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

The collection from the Gala evenings of the Festival is transmitted in the form of personal financial assistance to ballet veterans of various dance groups in Moscow.