08/04/2011 – DANCE OPEN 2011 summary

Grand Award Ceremony of the II St.Petersburg International Ballet Award DANCE OPEN was held on the 4th of April. The international jury consisted of the heads of the major ballet companies and schools: Kevin Mc Kenzie (American Ballet Theatre), Vladimir Malakhov (Berlin Ballet), Reid Anderson (Stuttgart Ballet), Sergey Philin (Bolshoi Theatre), Ted Brandsen (Dutch National Ballet), Olga Guardia de Smoak (UNESCO USA), Vlastimil Harapes (Slovak National Theater Ballet).

«Mr Virtuosity» – Yonah Acosta (Soloist of the English National Ballet). Tamara Moskvina, Honored coach of the USSR, Honored citizen of St.Petersburg gave the Award.«Ms Virtuosity» – Victoria Tereshkina (Honored artist of Russia, Principal Dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre). Evgeny Dyatlov, actor, gave the Award.

«Mr Expressivity» с– Steven McRae (Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet (Covent-Garden)). His tap dance impressed the audience and the jury. Ekaterina Galanova, the General Manager of the DANCE OPEN Festival, gave the award.

«Ms Expressivity» в– Jurgita Dronina (Principal dancer of the Dutch National Ballet and the Royal Swedish Ballet) and Ashley Bouder (Principal dancer of New York City Ballet). Alexander Domogarov, People’s artist of Russia, gave the award.

«The Best Duet» – Denis and Anastasia Matvienko (Soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre). Alexander Malich and Daria Alexandrova, TV presenters, gave the award. «People’s choice award» – Lucia Lacarra (Principal dancer of the Bavarian State Ballet). Andrey Razgulyaev, the head of the Building company “UNR-1-20”, gave the award.

TheDANCE OPEN AwardOpen»was given to Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova (Bolshoi Theatre) by the ballerina Natalia Makarova Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova are regular participants of the DANCE OPEN Festival recent years. They are appreciated not only by St.Petersburg audience but by the world ballet community.

Alina Cojocaru (Principal Dancer of the Royal Ballet (Covent-Garden)) received the special prize from the Festival sponsor “Sberbank”.

The ceremony took place at the Russian Museum of Ethnography. Every prize-winner was awarded with a crystal statuette – a replica of a copy of the bronze cast of the foot of the great ballerina Anna Pavlova.