Repertoire Announced For The International Competition For The Erik Bruhn Prize

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the repertoire for The International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize which will take place on Saturday, March 23, 2019 in Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. #BruhnPrize

Choreographer Alysa Pires, who has been appointed National Ballet Choreographic Associate beginning in the 2019/20 season, was commissioned by Ms. Kain to create a new contemporary work, The Other Side, in competition for the Choreographic Prize. The piece will be performed by National Ballet competitors Jeannine Haller and Siphesihle November. Ms. Haller and Mr. November will also perform the Act II pas de deux from La Sylphide for the classical portion of the competition.

Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell from American Ballet Theatre will dance the Act III pas de deux from Don Quixote and Let Me Sing Forevermore by Jessica Lang. The Hamburg Ballet's Sara Ezzell and Matias Oberlin will perform a pas de deux from The Nutcracker and An intimate distance by Kristian Lever. Competitors from The Royal Danish Ballet, Emma Riis-Kofoed and Mattia Santini, will dance a pas de deux from The Flower Festival in Genzano and Code by Nathan Compiano.

The evening will also feature a performance of Julia Adam's Night by dancers from The National Ballet of Canada. Night had its Canadian premiere earlier this month.

Judging the competition will be Artistic Directors Karen Kain, Kevin Mckenzie (American Ballet Theatre), Nikolaj Hübbe (The Royal Danish Ballet) and Principal Ballet Master Kevin Haigen (The Hamburg Ballet).

The evening will be hosted by National Ballet Principal Dancer Harrison James.

Since it began in 1988, The International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize has showcased the talents of many of the finest young dancers from companies around the world. Competitors for the prize must be between 18 and 23 years old and are selected by the Artistic Directors of their respective companies. Each pair performs a classical pas de deux and variation and a specially commissioned contemporary pas de deux or solo work. The 2019 competition marks the thirteenth installment of the prestigious event.