Harlequin look forward to celebrating 50 years of the Prix de Lausanne.

The Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition will celebrate half a century of ballet history next week from 29th January to 5th February at the newly renovated Beaulieu Theatre in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Founded by Elvire and Philippe Braunschweig, the competition welcomes talented dancers from all over the world hoping to progress their career by winning a coveted scholarship to a top dance company. Since 1973 the competition has crowned more than 450 prize winners, offered more than 500 scholarships and helped over 1000 dancers, thanks to its financial support programme. This year dancers will compete at this prestigious event in front of an impressive international jury; Jean-Christophe Maillot (President), Diana Vishneva (Vice-President), Sylviane Bayard, Julie Kent, Tetsuya Kumakawa, Melanie Person, Christopher Powney, Martin Schläpfer, Endalyn Taylor and Christopher Wheeldon.

The Prix de Lausanne 2023 will see the stars of yesterday, today and tomorrow gathering and performing throughout the week, culminating in a celebratory ‘Gala of the Stars’ on Sunday, Feb 5th with fabulous artists taking part such as Laura Fernandez, Friedemann Vogel, Mayara Magri, Antonio Casalinho and many more.

Among the many highlights this year to celebrate 50 years of the renowned competition will be world dancing legend and friend of Harlequin Carlos Acosta CBE, 1990 Prix de Lausanne Gold Medal Winner and current Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for his incredible contribution to dance. Carlos Acosta is a real success story of the competition, following his appearance in Lausanne his career took off as an international artist with the Royal Ballet and as a guest artist with prestigious companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, English National Ballet, and Birmingham Royal Ballet, where he was appointed Artistic Director in 2020.

Harlequin have proudly partnered with the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition, supplying sprung and vinyl dance floors for the rehearsal rooms and the main stage, for over fourteen years – and this year is no exception. Organisers of the event understand that the dance floor makes an important contribution to safe performance which is why they trust Harlequin to provide the environment dancers need to perform to their best abilities without worrying about risk of injury. 

As part of this year’s partnership, Harlequin is delighted to be supporting Julian MacKay at the Gala of the Stars. This is a particularly special relationship for Harlequin as Julian won the Harlequin Scholarship at the Prix de Lausanne in 2015, joining The Royal Ballet in London as their youngest member at the age of 17. Julian has since gone on to have an illustrious dancing career with Principal roles worldwide and is currently completing a season as Principal with the Bayerisches Staatsballett. Harlequin was delighted to have the opportunity to catch up with Julian ahead of this year’s Prix de Lausanne. 

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