From March 8-19, The 2021 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (VKIBC) will take place online, with dancers performing live and in their own time zone, in Asia, North America, South America, Eastern Europe, South Africa and Australia. For each time zone, there will be a different panel of judges.
Photo by Rachel Neville.
As in past years, selected entrants will dance for medals, prizes, scholarships to dance academies around the world and contracts to international companies. All programs will be broadcast worldwide and will be accompanied by narrators. The competition will culminate with a Grand Gala on March 19, featuring medalists from past years, now shining with major companies around the world.
Dancer categories are: Youth (ages 11-12), Student (ages 13-14), Junior (ages 15-17) and Senior (ages 18-26). Entrants will select their dances from the list provided by VKIBC, and includes solos from La Bayadère, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, Fairy Doll, Flames of Paris, La Fille Mal Gardée, Laurencia, Napoli, Paquita, Raymonda, Walpurgisnacht and more, plus pas de deux for Junior and Senior Divisions. In addition to the classical competition, VKIBC will continue to devote one day to contemporary dance.
Photo by Stephen Pisano.
VKIBC is proud to continue its association with the Serge Lifar Foundation, under the artistic authority of Charles Jude, former étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet. As in 2018 and 2019, the compulsory solo for the Senior division is “Mazurka” for men and “La Cigarette” for women from Lifar’s Suite en Blanc.
Charles Jude (France) returns as President of the Jury, which will include Nina Ananiashvili (Republic of Georgia), Patricia Aulestia (Mexico), Dirk Badenhorst (South Africa), Jan Broeckx (Germany), Nina Buisson (France), Diana Byer (USA), Martin Fredmann (USA), Olga Guardia de Smoak (Panama), Maximiliano Guerra (Argentina), Elisabetta Hertel (Italy), Mi Sook Jeon (South Korea), Regina Kaupuza (Latvia), Sun Hee Kim (South Korea), Konstantin Kostjukov (Serbia), Aivars Leimanis (Latvia), Andris Liepa (Russian Federation), Oliver Matz (Switzerland), Paul McRae (USA), Christopher Moore (England), Victoria Morgan (USA), Brenda Neville (USA), Mikko Nissinen (USA), Radenko Pavlovich (USA), Melanie Person (USA), Michael Pink (USA), Ricardo Scheir (Brazil), Sergei Soloviev (France/Russian Federation), Garry Trinder (New Zealand), Nikolai Tsiskaridze (Russian Federation) and Septime Webre (Hong Kong).
Photo by Stephen Pisano.
“VKIBC is dedicated to creating a positive and encouraging atmosphere, allowing dancers the opportunity to further develop their techniques, artistry and understanding of the art,” Kozlova says. “The competition is for the dancers. Let us celebrate your talents and passion, and look toward your bright future. And with this, we all must remember: a dancer’s life is not about competing but about giving!”
For more information on the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition, visit www.vkibc.org.
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