Denis Watanabe – Landgraf on Dance

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. Continue reading “Stellar”

“Gala pour les 50 ans de l’Académie Princess Grace”
L’Académie Princesse Grace
Salle Prince Pierre, Grimaldi Forum
Monte Carlo, Monaco
December 19, 2025

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo has much to celebrate this season: the company’s fortieth anniversary and the associated Academy Princess Grace’s fiftieth anniversary. The company will host a gala in July 2026, and the Academy’s gala took place last Friday. It combined a “best of” selection of works performed by the Academy during the past sixteen years. Princess Caroline of Hanover, president of Les Ballet de Monte-Carlo, attended the gala.

The legs of seven girls flew high to George Gershwin’s I’ve got Rhythm, and the joy and confidence in their faces, as well as the freedom, dash, and buoyancy of their movements, left no doubt that this would be a pleasant evening. Michel Rahn’s 2011 neoclassical choreography of almost the same title, We’ve Got Rhythm!, looked Balanchine-esque and employed a large group of male and female students. Continue reading “Doing the Company Proud”