The Nijinsky Awards 2004.

WHAT IS dance to you, M. Balanchine?" a French interviewer asked the Russo-American choreographer gravely in an old film clip shown at the Nijinsky Awards ceremony during the Monaco Dance Forum last December. The snippet, in which Balanchine sagely answered in heavily accented French, "just dance," was part of a centenary homage to Balanchine produced in tribute to his last great ballerina, Suzanne Farrell, who was presented with an honorary prize.

Farrell received her award (a bronze miniature of Rodin's famous study of Vaslav Nijinsky in Afternoon of a Faun) from Prince Albert of Monaco and thanked the jury and the audience with a nostalgic and thoughtful speech about dance and life. She recalled how Balanchine's art revealed to her the essence of the latter. "Open your arms like you are opening the windows on the Mediterranean Sea the first morning after you arrive," the choreographer once told Farrell.

At the Monaco Dance Forum, dance clearly was about more than just dance. Yes, there was new choreography by Japanese, Australian, English, Finnish, Israeli, Spanish, and French modern dance companies, of which the Emio Greco collaboration with Opera North on Orfeo ed Euridice was the most memorable. But the forum also presented a series of multi-media events, an exhibition of photographs of previous Nijinsky galas, and a large-scale international conference on career transitions for professional dancers, the advance Project (see DM, "Dance Matters," January) This proved the most rewarding event of the week; involvement and enthusiasm ran high and discussions were heated.

Two thousand dance professionals from all corners of the globe attended the five-day festival, which attracted an audience of approximately 10,000. Performances took place in and around Monaco's conference and performing arts center, the Grimaldi Forum, as well as in smaller venues around the principality.

Nijinsky Awards for Best Male and Best Female Dancer were awarded to Paris Opera Ballet etoile Nicolas Le Riche and Royal Ballet principal Alina Cojocaru. The gala event was hosted by British actress Charlotte Rampling under the patronage of Princess Caroline of Hanover. Tanztheater Wuppertal's Pina Bausch was presented with an honorary prize. William Forsythe received a Nijinsky Award for his work, Decreation, and Shen Wei was given the Emerging Choreographer Award.