The winner of the Helsinki International Ballet Competition Grand Prix is Yuka Masumoto
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Loading... - Bertha Friedrich
- 21 Jul 2022
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The ninth Helsinki International Ballet Competition held at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet has come to an end on Monday night 6 June 2022. The top prize of the high-level competition, the Jane Erkko Grand Prix, was awarded to Yuka Masumoto, a competitor of the women's senior category. The Doris Laine prize, awarded for the first time, was awarded to Giulio Diligente, a competitor of the boys' junior category. Over 200 performances by young talented dancers were performed in the first, second and final rounds of the competition from 31 May to 5 June 2022.
The competitors were divided into a junior category for dancers aged 15 to 19 and a senior category for dancers aged 20 to 25. Altogether 62 dancers from 16 countries took part in the competition. In the final rounds on Sat 4 June and Sun 5 June the 21 dancers selected for the finals performed both classical ballet repertoire and contemporary dance pieces.
The Jane Erkko Grand Prix of € 20 000 was awarded to Yuka Masumoto (Japan, b. 2001) of the women's senior category. The Doris Laine prize of € 12 000 was awarded to Giulio Diligente (Italy, b. 2003) of the boy's junior category. The first prize was not awarded in the women's senior category. In the men's senior category, the first prize of € 10 000 was awarded to Keita Fujishima (Japan, b. 2001). In the junior category, the first prizes of € 5 000 were awarded to Maya Schonbrun (United States, b. 2004) and Clark Eselgroth (United States, b. 2002).
"In the final round of the competition, we could feel that the competitors' nerves had found a new confidence and they offered us performances of the highest level. We truly enjoyed the broad variety from the very classical to the more contemporary repertoire. The creativity and artistry shared by the dancers was inspiring. We in the jury are very happy with the final results," says the President of the International Jury Madeleine Onne, Artistic Director of the Finnish National Ballet. Read More...
