Landgraf on Dance

10. July 2026

Stellar

XV International Ballet Competition—Laureates’ Gala
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
July 05, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

After three rounds of competition in ten days, the XV International Ballet Competition’s jury awarded medals, certificates, and diplomas to 50 of 131 contestants. Due to the high standards, discussions to determine the laureates continued late into the night after the final round. A laureates’ gala concert concluded the competition.

Of the seven gold medals, three were awarded to competitors from the USA and the Republic of Korea and one to a Japanese dancer. Russian dancers received seventeen prizes, Chinese six, and Mongolians four. Western Europe wasn’t represented, and only a few dancers from Central Europe scored: the Swede Auguste Marmus (bronze medal men, duet), coryphée and, as of late, Kammertänzer of the Hungarian National Ballet, the Serb Jana Zimonjic (bronze medal women, solo), and the Slovene Vid Vogrin (silver medal boys, duet). What mattered, though, wasn’t nationality but talent.

Vogrin, for example, just graduated from Moscow’s State Academy of Choreography and will join the Bolshoi Ballet. Two of the USA’s gold medalists, Yana Peneva and Alexei Orohovsky, graduated from Stuttgart’s John Cranko School in 2024 and 2025, respectively, and joined the Mariinsky Ballet as second soloists in 2025. They competed together in the junior duet category and earned an especially remarkable victory, as Orohovsky had injured his foot before round III but went on to perform impeccably. He received his gold medal on crutches.
In the laureates’ gala, Ryoma Hudzeleu, the Japanese gold medalist (men, solo) mentioned above, replaced him as Basil alongside Peneva’s Kitri in a fabulous pas de deux from Don Quixote. As it happens, Hudzeleu is also a 2025 graduate of the John Cranko School and joined the Mariinsky as a second soloist right away. All three testify to the high standard of the Cranko School under Tadeusz Matacz’s directorship (who stepped down in 2025) as well as the appeal of Russian companies.

The third U.S. gold medalist (girls, solo), Crystal Huang, was the only one who performed twice at the gala. Only seventeen years old, Huang danced Esmeralda’s variation from La Esmeralda and her own contemporary choreography, Hypnosis Waltz, which resembles an acrobatic, resolute struggle against invisible forces. The piece was, like some others, created for the competition. Huang has technique, clean lines, musicality, temperament, and individuality, but what thrilled me most was that she seemed to be dance incarnate.

I admired the self-assurance of the not-yet-sixteen-year-old Korean Pak Kunbyulbit, gold medalist (boys, solo), whose Jean de Brienne sailed flawlessly through an excerpt of Grigorovich’s Raymonda. His compatriots, Minjin Kim and Kangwon Lee, won gold in the duet category. Watching their Grand Pas Classique by Victor Gsovsky, I thought of what Andrian Fadeeyev said is most important to him as a juror: good taste. That’s what Kim and Lee displayed. The cleanliness and harmony of their lines and the level of perfection were amazing. Most striking, though, was the absence of any visible strain.

Unfazed by its many intricate lifts, the Chinese Yikun Zhang (silver medal women, duet) and Zhangfeng Wang (prize and diploma for partnership in the Senior category) infused Grigorovich’s balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet with emotion. Verona’s velvety night could be felt even on screen.

Of the gala’s many top-notch performances, Andrey Grachev (Russia, bronze medal boys, solo) showcased his powerful jumps in Actaeon’s variation from La Esmeralda, Dulguun Batbold (Mongolia, bronze medal boys, duet) soared high as the Wind God in a variation from The Talisman, and Viktoria Sokolova (Russia, silver medal girls, solo) generously spread her grace as Aurora. The dreamlike pirouettes of Sakura Nagai in a variation from Petipa’s La Halte de cavalerie were akin to swirling cherry petals, reminding me of her home country, Japan.
Elisey Volkov (Russia, silver medal boys, solo) gave Bournonville’s never-ending series of jumps weightlessness and ease, as did Alexander Dmitriev (Russia, silver medal boys, duet) and the Bolshoi Ballet’s Sofia Maymula (prize and diploma for partnership in the Junior category) in their pas de deux from The Flower Festival in Genzano. It combined nimble feet, butterfly-like lightness, filigree details, and a clean style. The Japanese Denis Watanabe’s (silver medal boys, solo) Philippe from The Flowers of Paris had brio, Razmik Marukyan (Armenia, bronze medal men, solo) was a mighty Ferkhad (the male love interest in Grigorovich’s A Legend of Love), and Dmitry Sobolev, a first soloist of the Leonid Jacobson Ballet St. Petersburg, who also won the bronze medal in the men’s solo category, made Colin from La Fille mal gardée very likable.

The level of professionalism extended to Tatyana Gevorkyan and Nikolay Rastvortsev, who hosted the awards ceremony and the laureates’ gala. As before, the Bolshoi Ballet’s Ana Turazashvili and Gennady Yanin presented the live streams and conducted interviews during the break. Alexei Bogorad was at the conductor’s podium of the Bolshoi Theatre’s Symphony Orchestra.

Links:		Website of the International Ballet Competition
		Website of the Bolshoi Theatre
		International Ballet Competition—video archive
Photos:	1.	Laureates, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	2.	Kunbyulbit Pak (Republic of Korea) and Sun Hee Kim, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	3.	Anar Uyen (Mongolia) and Lili Xin, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	4.	Jana Zimonjic (Serbia) and Tan Sağtürk, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	5.	Kangwon Lee (Republic of Korea) and Gulzhan Tutkibayeva, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	6.	Ryoma Hudzeleu (Japan) and Svetlana Zakharova, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	7.	Kunbyulbit Pak, Minjin Kim, Sun Hee Kim, and Kangwon Lee (Republic of Korea), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	8.	Rachel Pimentel Quintao and Auguste Marmus (Hungary), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	9.	Egor Arkhipov (Russia), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	10.	Sakura Nagai (Japan), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	11.	Andrey Grachev (Russia), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	12.	Elisey Volkov (Russia), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	13.	Viktoria Sokolova (Russia), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	14.	Crystal Huang (USA), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	15.	KangWon Lee and Minjin Kim (Republic of Korea), XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	16.	Gennady Yanin and Ana Turazashvili, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	17.	Gulzhan Tutkibayeva, Tamas Solymosi, Svetlana Zakharova, Andrian Fadeev, and Sun Hee Kim, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
	18.	Jury, XV International Ballet Competition 2026, Bolshoi Theatre
		all photos © Press Center of the International Ballet Competition
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

4. July 202610. July 2026

“It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.”

XV International Ballet Competition
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 25–July 05, 2026 (live streams)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Last week, the International Ballet Competition kicked off in Moscow for the fifteenth time since its foundation in 1969. This year, it is dedicated to Yuri Grigorovich (1927–2025), the competition’s artistic director and permanent chairman of the jury for more than half a century. His Legend of Love, performed by the Mariinsky Ballet, opened the competition.

Held every four years, the International Ballet Competition is compared to an Olympic contest in which participation is an honor. This year, a record 362 dancers from thirty-five countries applied, of whom 131 were invited to Moscow. They compete in two age categories—the junior group, ages 15-19 years, and the senior group, ages 20-27 years (many of whom are leading members of a company)—each divided into solo performances and duets. Laureates will emerge from Continue reading ““It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.””

24. June 20264. July 2026

Ambitious but Not Gripping

“Wonderland” (“Alice in Wonderland”/“Through the Looking-Glass”)
Hamburg Ballet
Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg, Germany
June 20, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Compared to Alexei Ratmansky’s recent choreography, Callirhoe, for the Vienna State Ballet, his new creation, Wonderland, for the Hamburg Ballet feels empty. It combines two dance adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s most notable novels, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), each of which is presented in a one-hour act.

No doubt, the production is ambitious and elaborate. Ratmansky and his son, Vasyl, assembled different music for each of the no fewer than twenty-eight scenes, which Philip Feeney merged into a score. Erik Satie’s Three Gnossiennes, no.3, for example, lulls Alice (Olivia Betteridge) into her dream journey down the rabbit hole. Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore (amended by a cock-crow) gives the cackling animals at the Caucus race—among them a crab, mouse, dodo, and eaglet—a voice, Continue reading “Ambitious but Not Gripping”

5. June 202624. June 2026

Well on the Way

“Matinee Ballet Academy”
Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
May 31, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Excitement permeated the Vienna State Opera as its auditorium filled for the Ballet Academy’s end-of-the-year performance last Sunday. One could feel the jitters of both the young artists and their families and friends who flocked to the performance. Their worries were unfounded; everything went as smoothly as could be wished.

Music by the Strauss family accompanied the opening Presentation, which assembled students of the 1.- 8. class. Its compilation of polkas, marches, gallops, and ball dances choreographed by the Academy’s director, Continue reading “Well on the Way”

4. June 20268. June 2026

Enlightening

“American Signatures”
Vienna State Ballet & Volksoper Wien
Volksoper Wien
Vienna, Austria
May 30, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Of the four American choreographers included in the Vienna State Ballet’s mixed bill, American Signatures, only Jerome Robbins is well known in mainland Europe. Works by Pam Tanowitz, Lar Lubovitch, and Jessica Lang are rarely staged. Hence, I was glad to see this season’s last performance.

Robbin’s Interplay premiered in autumn 1945, shortly after World War II, as the second choreography in his oeuvre. Absolutely nothing in the piece hints at war. Instead, its eight dancers (four women and four men) portray unburdened, fun-loving youth with contagious optimism and self-assurance. A backdrop as gloriously blue as a summer sky intensifies the bright colors of the men’s shirts (with which they wear black, skintight pants and white socks) and the girls’ short dresses. Of course, they wear ponytails. The American way of living that they represent reminds me of Continue reading “Enlightening”

1. June 20264. June 2026

Cosmic Plans

“Cinderella”
Tartar State Academic Ballet
Jalil Opera and Ballet Tartar State Academic Theatre
Kazan, Russia
May 11, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Romeo and Juliet is inextricably linked to Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891-1953) music, but it’s less well known that he also composed the score for Cinderella. The ballet was the Bolshoi Theatre’s first post-war world premiere in 1945. One year later, a lighter, more fairy tale-like version premiered at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). This year, Prokofiev would have celebrated his 135th birthday, and two new Cinderellas seem like respectable gifts. In mid-May, Nadezhda Kalinina’s version opened the 39th Rudolf Nureyev International Classical Ballet Festival in Kazan. Vyacheslav Lopatin’s debut choreography for his home company, the Bolshoi Ballet, followed closely on May 28th. I had the opportunity to watch a recording of Kazan’s Cinderella. Continue reading “Cosmic Plans”

30. April 20261. June 2026

Congratulations

“Giselle”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 26, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The Vienna State Ballet’s recent live stream of Giselle was one of those precious events where everything is perfect. Choreographed for Vienna in 1993 by Elena Tchernichova, the piece is the company’s “calling card.” Additionally, perhaps due to the new artistic director, Alessandra Ferri, who passed on her experience studying with Tchernichova herself, the dancers performed especially well. “Elena Tchernichova was the person who first taught me the role of Giselle when I was just twenty-one, dancing with American Ballet Theatre alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov,” Ferri revealed. Continue reading “Congratulations”

29. April 202630. April 2026

Retrospection

“Tribute to Tetley”
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart State Opera
Stuttgart, Germany
April 25, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

In 1972, no one foresaw how fateful Glen Tetley’s (1926-2007) invitation to stage his 1965 piece, The Mythical Hunter, for Stuttgart’s junior company would be. He and the artistic director, John Cranko, got along, and Tetley was commissioned to create a new ballet for the main company. It was June 1973, and Voluntaries wasn’t yet finished when news of Cranko’s sudden death on a transatlantic flight reached Stuttgart. At the request of Marcia Haydée and Cranko’s heir, the late Dieter Graefe, Tetley subsequently took over as the company’s artistic director. But administrative work burdened him. After two seasons, he passed the reins to Haydée, relieved to renew his focus on choreography. Yet fate had something else in store. In 1986, just as Tetley agreed to become Erik Bruhn’s artistic associate at the National Ballet of Canada, Bruhn died. Tetley kept his word, took up the post, and stayed for five years. Continue reading “Retrospection”

24. April 202629. April 2026

Growing From Solid Roots

“Miniatures”
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
Salle Garnier Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
April 18, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s recent premiere, Miniatures, takes up the 2004 project of the same title. Back then, Bruno Mantovani, artistic director of the festival Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo and director of the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, challenged Le Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s artistic director, Jean-Christophe Maillot, with seven contemporary compositions. Each of them represented another mindscape; none was written for dance, and Maillot was tasked with choreographies. He was successful. Mantovani threw four new compositions commissioned for this year’s festival into the ring (and also played them with the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain during the run of the program), which former and current dancers of the company put into dance. Two of Maillot’s 2004 works complemented the ninety-minute program. Continue reading “Growing From Solid Roots”

11. April 202624. April 2026

A Man of Mystery

“Pushkin”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
March 15, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Three years after Catharsis Dante, the Moscow-based choreographer Nikita Dmitrievsky created a second piece, Pushkin, for the Krasnoyarsk Ballet. Its two densely pact acts deal with Russia’s literary hero, Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and his inner life and spiritual being. Except for the music, which is by Konstantin Borosov (his first ballet composition), Dmitrievsky was in charge of the entire production (i.e., the choreography, libretto, lighting, and set, costume, and video design). I had the opportunity to watch a video of the premiere, which took place on March 15th.

As the libretto comprises no fewer than twenty-seven scenes, becoming familiar with the synopsis in advance is highly recommended. Continue reading “A Man of Mystery”

30. March 202611. April 2026

A Conversation With Pavel Glukhov

Moscow, Russia
March 16, 2026 (video conference)

In recent years, Pavel Glukhov has carved out a place for himself at the forefront of contemporary dance in Russia. Two of his latest pieces, Pavlova and Russian Character, were created for MuzArts; The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale premiered with Ballet Moscow. Thanks to MuzArts’s executive producer, Daria Faezova, I was able to talk with him via video conference. Alexei Faezov kindly interpreted from Russian to English and vice versa.

What encouraged you to become a dancer? Were there any role models in your family or other sources of inspiration?
Actually, no one in my family is directly connected to art. I’m the only one. I started dancing around the age of nine. Once, when I was walking with a friend, we entered a culture club, which offered dancing classes, and I stayed there right away. I felt connected to it and liked it very much. Continue reading “A Conversation With Pavel Glukhov”

25. March 202630. March 2026

Unrealistic

“Nureyev”
State Ballet Berlin
Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Germany
March 21, 2026

Last weekend, Yuri Possokhov’s and Kirill Serebrennikov’s joint production Nureyev premiered with the State Ballet Berlin. I remember well the piece’s 2017 world premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre and the troubles preceding it. In 2022, Nureyev was removed from the Bolshoi’s repertory following new Russian anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that made it illegal to promote the success and power of queer personalities, per Serebrennikov’s explanation.

Bringing this ballet back to life could have been a tribute to not only Rudolf Nureyev but also Russian ballet as well as a gift to the Bolshoi, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. Continue reading “Unrealistic”

4. March 202625. March 2026

The Benchmark

“Coppélia”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
February 21, 2026 (evening performance)

My hopes on a new video release were raised when I noticed the cameraman at the Bolshoi Ballet’s performance of Coppélia, until he explained that the recording was for internal use only. It’ll set the bar high for future generations of dancers.

Sergei Vikharev’s production, which he said is the most complete and exact rendition of what Nicholas Sergeyev noted from his St. Petersburg memories (his manuscripts are stored at Harvard University), has been in the Bolshoi’s repertory since 2009. It preserves all the details that fell victim to artistic, financial, and producing conditions in many Western stagings. Continue reading “The Benchmark”

28. February 20264. March 2026

Restorative

“The Snow Maiden”
Ballet of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 21, 2026 (matinee)

The legend of a girl made of snow who falls in love with a human but cannot survive the warmth of spring has its roots in Slavic mythology. The fairy tale entered the stage in 1873 when, due to the renovation of Moscow’s Maly Theatre, all three Imperial companies—drama, opera, and ballet—were accommodated by the Bolshoi Theatre. To seize the occasion, the management decided to unite them in a single fairy tale production. The Russian author Alexander Ostrovsky was commissioned for the libretto and Pyotr Tchaikovsky a composition. A few months later, Nikolay Rubinstein conducted the premiere. This marked the stage birth of The Snow Maiden. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1880/81 opera version is also based on Ostrovsky’s libretto. Continue reading “Restorative”

26. February 202628. February 2026

Recovery

“The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale”
Ballet Moscow
Novaya Opera Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 20, 2026

The premiere of a new Nutcracker in late February sounded uncommon to my Western ears until I noticed the still festive decorations of Moscow’s streets and the growing piles of snow lining them. Snow also fell in Pavel Glukhov’s The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale and much more fiercely than outside, as if to herald his version’s chilling content, the First World War. Told with warmth and ending happily, Glukhov’s Nutcracker has characteristics of a fairy tale but is recommended for children aged twelve and older. He choreographed it for Ballet Moscow, the home base of which is the Novaya Opera Theatre in the city center.

The story’s hero is Nathaniel, a figure E.T.A. Hoffmann created not for his The Nutcracker and the Mouse King but for his spooky The Sandman, which later served as the basis for Coppélia. A crossbreed between Coppelius, the Nutcracker, and Drosselmeyer, Glukhov’s Nathaniel is a puppet maker who specializes in wooden nutcrackers in military dress. Continue reading “Recovery”