New Rules for Prix de Lausanne.

The twenty-seventh Prix de Lausanne competition, founded by Philippe and Elvire Braunschweig, was held January 24 to 31, in Lausanne's Palais de Beaulieu. There were ninety-eight entrants, ranging in age from fifteen to seventeen, from twenty-seven countries.

The Braunschweigs, who semiretired two years ago and are now consultants, turned over the Prix's direction to an executive committee. The original mission--to assist young dancers who are able to attain the high level of technique required for a professional career--remains the same. However, a few changes and a new category have been added.

THE BASIC CLASSICAL REQUIREMENTS

The Prix requires that each entrant perform a classical variation with the choreography as shown in a video distributed by the competition. Girls must choose a variation from Giselle, Raymonda, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, or La Bayadere. Boys must choose a variation from Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, or La Sylphide.

For the first time, onstage coaching was instituted to help the young dancers achieve a better emotional context in the performances of their classical variation. Monique Loudieres, etoile of the Paris Opera, and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, a former etoile, participated. Bonnefoux describes his purpose: "I wanted to change the state of mind of the boys to thinking about the role they are representing. Make them take their minds off technique and get them to understand that musicality, coloration, and understanding the person they are reenacting will lead them to artistry, which is just as important as technique."

Loudieres, when coaching the girls, was careful not to say anything negative "because they still had to dance to the end of the finals," and pointed out that her suggestions concerning artistry were "the way we learned," meaning as stars of the Opera. Learning to know where in the variation to rest, how to use the entire stage, and coping with its rake had to be taken into consideration by everyone.

Although the young dancers were thrilled to be coached by stars, it proved almost overwhelming for those impressionable youngsters who tried hard to follow the last-minute advice. That concern, in some cases, clouded their natural joy in performing at the semifinals. Jan Nuyts, artistic director of the Prix, came to the rescue by telling them they will always remember the advice, but now, as they approached the finals, it was time just to dance.

THE NEW CONTEMPORARY VARIATION REQUIREMENT

Charles Gebhard, president of the finance committee, oversees the daunting task of raising, funds from corporate and other sources to support the Prix. He explains, "It was apparent that professional dancers today must have some experience or training in modern dance because of new choreography. Therefore, the Prix decided to include a new category for contemporary dance."

Each entrant received a second video of five contemporary works from which to choose one variation to perform. The choreographers--Katarzyna Gdaniec, Aime de Ligniere, Giorgio Mancini, Michele Mengual, and Pierre Wyss--were on hand to direct rehearsals of their own choreography. Young dancers from as far away as Kazakhstan, Armenia, and South Africa performed their contemporary variations with assurance although they probably had never seen modern dance before.

Finalists were permitted to add a third "free" variation of their personal choice. These ranged from Diana's challenging solo, from the Diana and Actaeon Pas de Deux, to innocuous variations that reflected the contestant's age, not artistic maturity.

The finalist who best performed the contemporary variation was awarded a summer workshop apprenticeship, including travel and living expenses, to a choice of American Dance Fesitival (U.S.), Henny Jurriens Foundation (Netherlands), Internationale Tanzwochen (Austria), London Contemporary Dance School (U.K.), or TanzWerkstatt Berlin (Germany).

Franz Blankart, president of the Prix de Lausanne Foundation, describes the awards: "The award of tuition-free scholarships for one year to a choice of one of twenty major schools throughout the world--and new this year has been the addition of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg--has been our basic assistance for students under sixteen years of age. We have added apprenticeships, with expenses paid, to awardees over seventeen years old, with a choice of seventeen ballet companies throughout the world. This places the awardees in a unique position to become a member of the company of their choice.

"In addition to the new contemporary prize of an apprenticeship to a modern dance group, we offer 2,500 Swiss francs to a Swiss winner, as well as 1,000 Swiss francs to finalists. We have omitted some cash prizes because we discovered that the cash won by young Russian dancers in the past did not remain with the winners but was confiscated by `officials.' We omitted the professional-level prize, as well. Our Prize of Excellence was not won this year."

Winners since 1973 who have become principal dancers in major companies include Patrick Armand, Alessandra Ferri, Gen Horiuchi, Viviana Durante, Darcey Bussell, Ethan Stiefel, and Carlos Acosta. Christopher Wheeldon, has branched out into choreography as well.

Blankart adds, "The Prix in the past has been held in Japan, the United States, and Russia to make the competition more accessible. We make changes every year to meet the changing needs of the dance world and the candidates. This year classical and contemporary classes were open to coaches and parents of candidates. This same group attended our new seminars on classical and contemporary dance and eating disorders. Television coverage has been extensive. The young dancer is foremost in mind and our goal is to facilitate the candidate's access to further training in a school or company of choice."

1999 TEACHERS AND JURORS

Teachers at the Prix this year were Christine Anthony, freelance, international teacher; Robert Denvers, artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders; and Samuel Wuersten, artistic director of the Holland Dance Festival. All used ballet terminology and taught with a number of interpreters on hand.

The seminars, moderated and composed by Jenny J. Veldhuis, were well attended, despite the cumbersome need to translate into French, Russian, and Japanese. (The seminar on eating disorders was somewhat inappropriate since many of the entrants who came from Eastern countries are deprived of proper nourishment by economic conditions, rather than emotional problems.)

The jury was presided over by Mavis Staines, artistic director, National Ballet School (Toronto, Canada), and included Tae-ji Choi, artistic director, The National Ballet of Korea; Dominique Khalfouni, teacher at l'Ecole Nationale Superieure de Danse de Marseille (France); Marianne Kruuse, educational director at the John Neumeier Ballet Centre (Germany); Suki Schorer, teacher at the School of American Ballet (USA); Tatiana Taiakina, director of the School of Kiev (Ukraine); Ricardo Bustamante, director of the Ballet of Colon Theatre (Argentina); Foofwa d'Imobilite (ex Frederic Gafner); Tom Shimazaki, freelance choreographer (Japan); Gerald Tibbs, artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theater II; and Renato Zanella, director of the Ballet of the Vienna Opera (Austria).

The competition was disappointing because the level of the candidates, though fairly high, was not exceptional. All six American entrants were eliminated during the trials and all seemed to have the same faults: lack of correct port de bras in basic poses; poor or no ability to do small, quick beats; lack of epaulement; incorrect use of head positions; and lack of awareness that all exercises must begin and end in a recognizable ballet position. There have been American scholarship winners at the Prix, but most properly trained American dancers understandably prefer to remain in their own schools, especially if that school is affiliated with a company they want to join.

Gebhard puts a cheerful spin on the event: "The Prix is not so much about dancing for prizes and looking for future stars," he says. "Awards are a major contribution to a young dancer at the right time, but it is the process of spending the entire week here in the classes, performing onstage, and growing each day from the experience that is the most rewarding aspect of the Prix for each contestant."

The deadline for registration for the 2000 Prix ends November 1999. Contact: Prix de Lausanne, Palais de Beaulieu, Av. Bergieres 6, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland; 41 021 643 2405; fax [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].

NEW CATEGORIES AND LEVELS OF AWARDS GIVEN AT THE 1999 PRIX DE LAUSANNE

Grand Prize: Prize of Excellence, 5,000 SF (not awarded this year)

Level One:

* Prize for 3-4 awardees of a one-year school tuition

* Prize for 3-4 awardees over 17 years of age as apprentices in a major company

Level Two:

* Prize for 1-2 "hopefuls" under 16 years of age of one-year school tuition

* Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work

* Prize for the best Swiss candidate

Level Three:

Finalist prize for 2 awardees of 1,000 Swiss Francs