The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is delighted to announce the commissioned choreographer, faculty and judges for The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2024 which returns to London from September 1-8.
Andrew McNicol will be the commissioned choreographer. He is a UK-based, international choreographer who is the founder/director of the McNicol Dance Collective. He will create two solos that will have their world premieres at The Fonteyn final.
RAD President and Guest Principal Coach of the Royal Ballet, Dame Darcey Bussell, and Artistic Director Designate of Wiener Staatsballett, Alessandra Ferri, will judge the semi-finals at the RAD’s state-of-the-art headquarters in London, with the Royal Ballet Director Kevin O'Hare joining them to judge the final.
Dame Monica Mason, RAD Vice President and former Director of the Royal Ballet, and Ashley Page, choreographer and former Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet, will judge the Musicality and Choreographic awards. The Musicality Award is being introduced for the first time in the competition’s history. These two awards are supported by the Lynn Wallis Bursary Fund.
The competition’s faculty, who will be teaching the candidates, are RAD’s Artistic Director Alexander Campbell, Christopher Powney, Isabel McMeekan and Samira Saidi.
The Fonteyn (previously known as The Genée) is one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet competitions in the world, representing the pinnacle of achievement for young dancers trained in the RAD syllabus
The competition is hosted at the RAD’s headquarters. Coaching begins on September 1, with semi-finals held on September 4-6 in the Aud Jebsen Studio Theatre. The semi-finals will see candidates take part in a judged class and performing a variation from the classical repertoire. Candidates will also perform a "Dancer’s Own" variation created by themselves, their teacher or a peer, to a piece of music of their choice. The final will be held at His Majesty’s Theatre, London, on September 8.
Joining the faculty are Mayumi Hotta (Benesh choreologist) and pianists Rebecca Leshures and Richard Norris).
Candidate applications are open!
Applications for The Fonteyn 2024 close on Friday 31 May. To apply and find out more visit The Fonteyn website https://www.thefonteyn.org/
Public on-sale for The Fonteyn 2024 will be on July 1.
Tickets are on sale for RAD Members only. RAD Members enjoy 15% off the top three price bands for a limited time, between 29 April and 30 June 2024. Unsold tickets will be available to the public at a later date. Book here.