With support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation the 28th International Ballet Festival Benois de la Danse took place on the Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre on the 8th and 9th of June. The highlight of the event was the award ceremony of the Benois Prize which many consider to be the?Ballet Oscar?. Moreover, there were gala concerts, during which the audience got to see the latest most notable works in the field of dance.
Despite certain difficulties caused by the pandemic, 10 soloists from the world?s leading classical and contemporary dance companies and ensembles made it to Moscow, namely the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the Paris Opera Ballet, the New York City Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet (Chicago), the Bavarian State Ballet, the Semperoper Ballet, the Hannover Ballet and the
The jury of Benois Prize 2021 boasts prominent names in ballet and the names of artistic directors from the world?s largest theatres: Yuri Grigorovich, Svetalana Zakharova, Jacopo Godani, Joaqu?n De Luz,?lisabeth Platel, Xin Lili, Ashley Wheater and Edward Watson.
The winners of the Benois Prize 2021 were announced on the evening of June 8th on the Historic stage of the Bolshoi. This year the Prize went to choreographer Yuri Possokhov, dancers Amandine Albisson and Ekaterina Krysanova, dancer Jes?s Carmona, composer Thomas Ad?s and artist Tacita Dean.
The Lifetime Achievement Award this year went to distinguished British dancer Anthony Dowell and the
Mikhailovsky Theatre?s principal dancer Leonid Sarafanov also received a Benois figurine, which he had won in 2006.
The nominees? gala concert took part in the second half of the evening and featured a number of both Russian and world premieres. Among them were new pieces by choreographers such as Marco Goecke,
Andrey Kaydanovsky and Yuri Possokhov. Soloist of the