It's Nearly Time to Compete for The Erik Bruhn Prize
The 12th International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize will take place in Toronto on November 15. The event, which honors Bruhn’s danseur noble legacy, is a pretty accurate predictor of up-and-coming talent. Last year’s winners included NBoC second soloist Hannah Fischer, who danced as a first-cast lead in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale during NBoC’s opening, and recently promoted San Francisco Ballet principal Carlo Di Lanno.
This year, the lineup is as stellar as ever:
- Our June/July 2016 cover star Cassandra Trenary and 2015 Star of the Corps Gabe Stone Shayer, from American Ballet Theatre
- Hamburg Ballet’s Madoka Sugai and Christopher Evans
- Chisato Katsura and Harrison Churches from The Royal Ballet
- Natasha Sheehan and Angelo Greco from San Francisco Ballet
- NBoC’s Félix Paquet and Calley Skalnik
The dancers were selected to compete by their artistic directors, so we imagine that the opportunity comes with a considerable vote of confidence.
Royal Danish Ballet principal Ida Praetorius (photo by Nathan Sayers for Pointe)
Recently, The Erik Bruhn Prize added a choreographic category and this year’s contestants include ABT principal Jeffrey Cirio, HB’s Marc Jubete, Calvin Richardson from The Royal Ballet and Myles Thatcher from SFB. NBoC choreographic associate Robert Binet will join them.
In an interesting twist, the dancers compete as a couple from their respective company, but each can win independently in the Male or Female Outstanding Dancer categories. In fact, the last time two dancers from the same company won was in 2012 when Royal Danish Ballet principal (and Feb/March 2014 cover star) Ida Praetorius and 2015 Standout Performer Andreas Kaas (an RDB soloist) each took home the prize.
Cheers to all of this year’s competitors!
November 1, 2016… Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that Corps de Ballet members Félix Paquet (22) and Calley Skalnik (21) will represent the company at The Twelfth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 7:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Choreographic Associate Robert Binet creates a new contemporary work commissioned by the National Ballet, Self and Soul, as part of the competition.
