A student at the Australian Ballet School, Amy Ronnfeldt, has won a coveted scholarship at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, held just this last weekend in Switzerland.
Each year, the Prix de Lausanne offers not one but several scholarships, each of which allows the winner to enter one of the the competition's prestigious "partner" schools and companies. On this occasion seven scholarships were offered.
There were 20 finalists altogether, chosen from 70 participants. The finals were held on stage (despite the pandemic) in front of full house and a panel of judges led by Margaret Tracey, international dance educator and former principal dancer of New York City Ballet.
The winners were:
- Darrion SELLMAN (United States)
- JEUNE ESPOIR Tsukino TANAKA (Japan)
- BOURSE JEUNE ESPOIR Luciana SAGIORO (Brazi)
- Mingyang XIE (China)
- Dorian PLASSE (France)
- Maya SCHONBRUN (United States)
- BOURSE JEUNE ÉTOILE Amy Ronnfeldt (Australia)
Ronnfeldt, who is 18 years old, impressed the judges with the lead variation from Paquita and a contemporary solo called Suppress.
Another Australian contestant also excelled - in the Young Creation Award. Milla Loock, from the School of the Hamburg Ballet, was one of two winners - the other being Italian dancer Luca Branca. Loock presented a variation called Cognition, performed by Anita Ferriera.
All photos of Ronnfeldt above are by Gregory Batardon.