Cape Town International Ballet Competition Renamed

The fourth South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC), supported by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, takes place at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, from 17 to 23 February 2014. Formerly known as the Cape Town International Ballet Competition (CTIBC) it is the only event of its kind on the African continent and attracts top dancers from SA and the World. A new competitor category has also being announced for the 2014 awards.

Dirk Badenhorst, founder and CEO of the competition which has taken place in Cape Town every second year since 2008, has announced that in view of the City of Cape Town's decision to terminate its funding of the competition, the competition will no longer carry the City's name. Consequently, the competition will revert to its original 2008 name of the South African International Ballet Competition.

Since the inaugural SAIBC in 2008, the competition has been hailed by dance enthusiasts as one of the most exciting happenings on the South African dance calendar. It is a tremendous success on a number of levels, attracting top dancers from South Africa and around the world to compete for gold, silver and bronze medals and substantial monetary prizes.

In unveiling details of SAIBC 2014, Dirk Badenhorst has also announced the addition of a third age division for competitors. The new category, Scholar, will be open to dancers aged 12 to 15 years. Other categories are Junior (16 to 20 years) and Senior (21 to 28 years). This year participants include dancers from Switzerland, Cuba, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, China and the biggest number of South African entrants. The prize money totals R340,000.

In line with the earlier competitions, a distinguished panel of judges from around the world has been assembled for SAIBC 2014. The line-up includes Julio Bocca, Argentinean superstar and formerly a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and an international guest artist applauded as being among the world's leading male ballet stars in the last two decades of the 20th century. Today Mr. Bocca is the artistic director of the Ballet Nacional SODRE in Uruguay; Marcia Haydee, former ballerina and artistic director of the famed Stuttgart Ballet, creator of leading roles in ballets by legendary choreographer John Cranko, and now director of the Ballet de Santiago in Chile; Dawn Weller, former ballerina of PACT Ballet, artistic director of PACT Ballet/The State Theatre Ballet from 1983 to 2000, and now director of Australia's Graduate College of Dance; Hae Shik Kim, Founding Dean of the Korean National University of Arts School of Dance, former ballerina and artistic director of the Korean National Ballet, now artistic director of the Seoul International Dance Competition; Xin Lili, former ballerina, now choreographer and artistic director of the Shanghai Ballet; Ramona de Saá, former dancer, now Director of the National Ballet School of Cuba and Associate Professor of Cuba's Higher Institute of Art and Methodology of the National Centre for Schools of Art; Oliver Matz, former principal dancer of the Ballet of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and acclaimed international guest artist, now the Director of Dance Studies and faculty member for classical male dance of the Zurich Dance Academy in Switzerland and Melanie Person, co-director of the Ailey School, New York.

The Elimination Rounds take place Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 February at 6pm; the Finals is on Friday 21 February at 7:30pm and the Awards evening where the top 5 dancers in each category will compete for gold, silver and bronze medal placement and monetary prizes, takes place on Saturday 22 February at 7:30pm. The Gala performances on Sunday 23 February at 3pm and 7:30pm will showcase the competition winners, the Young Korean Ballet Stars from South Korea and top dancers from the National Ballet School of Cuba.

The closing date for entries for the South African International Ballet Competition is Monday, 13 January 2014. Queries related to applications, rules and regulations should be addressed to Dirk Badenhorst (badenhorst.db@gmail.com). The daily event breakdown can be found on http://www.ctibc.com/.

Tickets cost R60 for the Elimination Rounds and from R150 to to R350 for the Finals, Awards and Gala evenings, via Computicket or 0861 915 8000.