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With COVID-19 restrictions, dancers are showing
pre-recorded routines on a flat screen instead, before socially
distanced judges in a hotel ballroom, with no live audience.
Donning black masks, the nine judges scribble notes on desks as
they watch Maia Rose Roberts, 16, from Britain go through a
ballet class on her own.
Nicolas Le Riche, a former Paris Opera Ballet etoile, or
principal dancer, saw no major difference from judging live
performances and said he felt moved at "discovering the dancers
through the screen."
"Seeing those dancers bringing joy, excellence, passion in these
videos, it's absolutely amazing," he said in an interview.
Around 80 dancers aged 15 to 18 from 20 countries are vying for
six prizes, which will be awarded on Feb. 6. A prize can help
launch a career by earning winners a one-year scholarship with a
partner school or company, as it did for Alessandra Ferri and
Carlos Acosta who went on to star with American Ballet Theatre
and the Royal Ballet, respectively.
The organizers pressed ahead with the competition, one of the
world's toughest, because dancers typically perform only about
20 years and are always fighting time.
"The reason we have fought so hard to do the Prix de Lausanne
this year is to not lose a year in a career of a dancer," said
Kathryn Bradney, artistic and executive director for the award,
who misses the magic of the live event.
Bradney admitted it was a "worrisome" period since dance budgets
are liable to be cut during the COVID-induced recession.
But she felt encouraged by this year's dancers.
"We had auditions where they danced in their garage, in their
living rooms and they had a high level and they were so
determined that I think that dance will prevail actually," she
said.
(Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Richard Chang)
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