9th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize

Reviewed by Paula Citron

9th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize
American Ballet Theatre, Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Royal Danish Ballet, and Stuttgart Ballet
Four Seasons Centre
Mar. 5, 2011

Public opinion and professional opinion were two very different things at the Erik Bruhn Competition. The audience choice awards were completely different from the official selections.

The winners this year were Hamburg Ballet’s Maria Baranova, 18, and American Ballet Theatre’s Joseph Gorak, 21. Stuttgart Ballet’s Demis Volpi won the Choreographic Prize.

The brand new Audience Choice Awards (and yes, the audience was given time to pull out their cell phones and text for their favourites) went to Stuttgart dancers Elisa Badenes and Daniel Camargo. The best choreographer went to the National’s Robert Stephen.

So why the disparity between the judges and the audience? My guess is that the former are looking at the totality of the dancer, both in terms of technique and artistic interpretation. The audience, on the other hand, is going to be wowed by flash and dash.

This year’s Erick Bruhn Prize sported a particularly strong field, which made the choosing difficult. Every one of the dancers was worthy.