Articles from Ballet2000

- Launched more than fifty years ago, the Swiss Prix de Lausanne remains the major competition in the world for young dancers between the ages of 15 and 18, notably because of the quality of its prize winners who can subsequently be found at the highest levels of dance around the globe, having gone on from the competition to take up scholarships at top-ranking dance schools, which, far beyond the medals themselves, constitute the real prizes. In February 2025, the competition took place once again on the stage of Lausanne’s Palais de Beaulieu.

Lausanne does not always follow the same format every year, but the exceptional quality of its winners is what remains constant. This year’s jury, comprising internationally renowned artists and chaired by former Paris Opera étoile and current director of Munich’s Bavarian State Ballet Laurent Hilaire did not have an easy job in selecting the 20 finalists from the 85 competitors who had taken part in a week of classes and rehearsals, let alone pick the final 9 prize winners.
The jury’s top choice was 16-year-old Korean, YounJae Park, a male student from Seoul’s ballet school who dazzled in an airborne variation from The Flames of Paris, an authentically Soviet Russian ballet, despite its French title.
Four more prize winners from Asia have all received scholarships at one of the 37 partner schools or apprenticeships with one of the 38 partner companies: Chinese Hanxi Wang, whose Raymonda was characterised by delicacy and musical sensitivity, South Korean Bogyeong Kim whose expressiveness elevated her contemporary variation and two Japanese dancers, 15-year-old Hono Hamasaki who was light as gossamer in The Awakening of Flora, and 18-year-old Shinnosuke Yasuumi, small of stature, but who was truly impressive in his contemporary piece Groovin’ in which he gave his all. The jury focussed more on his technical and artistic qualities rather than his employment prospects at a time when dancers are getting taller and taller.
The strong Asian presence – Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, totalling 14 finalists out of the 20 – might be surprising, as Hilaire concedes, but he rejects any notion of an ‘Asian domination’: dance has no borders and dance prizes are like wines with differences between vintages simply to be savoured.
This year, three Americans and one Briton completed the lineup, including 18-year-old Hector Jain, an American student at Monaco’s Princess Grace Academy, aristocratic in his Prince Désiré variation, and 17-year-old Jakob Wheway Hughes from the UK whose turns and petite batterie in the Grand Pas Classique caused a sensation.
But the 9 scholarships are not the only goal of the competition: all competitors experience a week of classes, coaching and rehearsals under the guidance of outstanding teachers: Elisabeth Platel, Monique Loudières, Joel Carreño and Federico Bonelli, to name but a few. And, for those who did not win a prize, an invitation to a ‘Networking Forum’ which allowed them to make contact with around fifty directors of ballet schools and companies from around the world.
Jean Pierre Pastori - BALLET2000 - n. 300