Well, it seems like human nature that we watch kids rise to glory, or fail miserably. In fact, over the past week, I have been glued to my computer watching the live streaming of the Prix de Lausanne. If you don’t know what that is, it is the yearly competition in which kids travel to Switzerland for a week and go through grueling classes, and interviews in hopes to be 1/20 finalists selected. All these students are competing for scholarships at one of the partnered/sponsor schools of the prix. Literally, if you win the prix you are kind of on the fast track to principal.

This year has been quite surprising, as the usual country contenders are the US, Japan, China, Korea, and of course if a Russian is competing they usually win… It is rare to ever see a French candidate compete. But this year has a surprising line up for the finalists… Australia has quite a few finalists… which is nice since the last Australian we really saw was Steven McCrae (principal at Royal now). There are quite a bit of US competitors this year, which is a good follow up since Precious Adams from the US won a scholarship and the contemporary prize last year (currently at English National Ballet). There is always a swiss candidate in the finals, as a prize always goes to the best swiss candidate. In the mix there is also Portugal this year… Now the prix has gone through a variety of phases, to announce winners, they used to hand out gold-bronze medals, cash prizes, different levels of competition… it goes on and on.. now the prix hands out six massive scholarships, along with the prizes for audience favorite, contemporary, and best swiss candidate. If you are 17+ you may also win an apprentice spot…

Why is the prix so important? Besides the fact that winners include Darcy Bussell, Marcelo Gomes, Maria Kotchekova, Laetitia Pujol etc… The prix is one of the major competitions that kids compete at in hopes to make a name for themselves as a part of ballet history.