The Prix De Lausanne Just Lowered Its Age Requirement for the 2018 Competition

September 14, 2017

If you’ve been dreaming of the day when you could apply to participate in the annual Prix de Lausanne competition, your wait may have just gotten a little shorter. This year, the international scholarship competition held in Lausanne, Switzerland, is lowering its minimum age requirement to dancers who are 14 years and 6 months.

Previously, the competition was open to dancers between the ages of 15 and 18, so the new rules will allow younger dancers to have the opportunity to win scholarships to world renowned schools like School of American Ballet and The Royal Ballet School, too. “We have moved the age requirement to include a slightly younger student giving them the proper entry age for most professional schools during the same competition year,” Shelly Power, artistic director and CEO of Prix de Lausanne said in a press statement.

Additionally, the Prix will be holding their preselection for the competition on October 4 and 5 in Montevideo, Uruguay, to give more opportunities to South American dancers. During preselection, the jury,—comprised of Julio Bocca (Artistic Director of Ballet Nacional Sodre, Montevideo), Lidia Segni (former Director of Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina), María Ricetto (Principal Dancer at Ballet Nacional Sodre) and Kathryn Bradney (former Principal Dancer at Béjart Ballet Lausanne)—will select two dancers to attend the Prix free of charge. The Prix has also announced their partnership with the Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition (IBCC).

Registration is currently open to students of all nationalities that meet the age requirements, with September 30 being the deadline to submit registration forms and October 22 the deadline to submit your video recording. You can find all of the rules for the Prix de Lausanne right here, and catch up on last year’s finals below if you won’t be heading to the comp yourself.