The IX International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers
June 8 - June 18, 2001
123 participants from 18 countries
The 2001 competition was a tribute to Galina Ulanova, the most excellent ballet dancer of the 20th century and a teacher who trained several generations of the world's leading ballet dancers. Galina Ulanova was one of the founders of the international competition movement in ballet, including the Moscow competition. She treasured the role of such creative competitions. The opening of Ulanova's tombstone at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, the work of sculptor F. Fiveysky and architect V. Tikhonov, was timed to coincide with the start of the competition.
Hononary Chairman og Organization Cimmitee
Olga Lepeshinskaya (Russia)
Chairman of the Organizing Committee
Mikhail Lavrovsky (Russia)
Chairman of the Jury
Yuri Grigorovich (Russia)
Jury Members
Altynai Assylmuratova (Russia)
Maria Klara Salles de Almeida (Brazil)
Bai Shuxiang (China)
Rudi Van Dantzig (The Netherlands)
Vlastimir Harapes (Czech Republic)
Michael Denard (France)
Bisser Deyanov-Todorov (Bulgaria)
Valentin Elisariev (Republic of Belarus)
Natalia Kasatkina (Russia)
Viktor Litvinov (Ukraine)
Don MacDon (USA)
Minoru Ochi (Japan)
Choi Tai Ji (Korea)
Contest of ballet dancers
Wang Qimin (China)
Oksana Kucheruk (Russia)
Leonid Sarafanov (Ukraine)
Pinto Tiago Suares (Brazil)
Misa Kuranaga (Japan)
Polina Simionova (Russia)
Contest of choreographers
Radu Poklitary (Republic Of Belarus) for "Three Georgian Songs " performed by Nadezhda Shepacheva and Egor Shepachev (Moldova)Contest of ballet dancers
Marques Barbosa Roberta (Brazil)
Ekaterina Shipulina (Russia)
Alexey Borzov (Russia)
Roman Mikhaliov (Russia)
Contest of choreographers
Sergey Bobrov (Russia) for "Awakening" to music by S. Rakhmaninov. To mark two of his other pieces: "Beginning" to music by W-A Mozart and " "Gypsy Dance " to music by V. Porotsky
Contest of ballet dancers
Anna Zharova (Russia)
Kim Joo Won (Republic of Korea)
Tomonori Ochi (Japan)
Han Po (China)
Ruslan Skvortsov (Russia)
Sergey Teplov (Russia)
Natalia Domracheva (Ukraine)
Maria Kochetkova (Russia)
Ekaterina Krisanova (Russia)
Anastasia Kurkova (Russia)
Milena Sidorova (Ukraine)
Contest of choreographers
Eward Clug (Rumania) for "Solo for Two Chairs " to music of "Madredeus Contest of ballet dancers
Куоко Takeichi (Japan)
Yuri Higuchi (Japan)
Denis Bordiyan (Russia)
Sergey Vasuchenko (Russia)
Alexander Voltchkov (Russia)
Vladimir Dmitriev (Russia)
Egor Shepachev (Moldova)
Award to the Best Partner
Won Кик Lee (Korea)
Julia Bolshakova (Russia)
Anna Gins burg (Russia)
Julia Grebenshchikova (Russia)
Daria Ivanova (Russia)
Natalia Kleymenova (Russia)
Maria Kuimova (Russia)
Alexandra Surodeeya (Kazakhstan)
Ekaterina Shalkina (Ukraine)
Paula Andea Elizondo (Argentina)
Vyacheslav Lopatin (Russia)
Ruslan Savdenov (Kazakhstan)
Vladimir Tristan (Ukraine)
Contest of choreographers
Toru Tanada (Japan) for "Yasa" to music by UTTARA-KURU-Kiesi Yosida
Dmitry Protsenko for "Unrequited Love " to music by Ottmar Libert
The Opening Ceremony of the IX International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre. Photo: TASS
The competition returned to the Bolshoi Theatre. The IX International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers had its distinctive features. In 2001 it was decided to hold a separate competition among choreographers. Contemporary choreography was traditionally represented in the second round of the ballet competition. Many contemporary choreographic compositions have been honored by the international jury members, and their authors have been awarded incentive prizes. Choreographers could now present pieces that had been specially created for the competition and were performed by competitors in the first round of the ballet competition. There were no restrictions on the choice of style of contemporary choreography.
The structure changes entailed changes in the program; contemporary choreography was performed in the first and second rounds. This program and conditions continued in the following Moscow competitions in 2005 and 2009.
Another change was that after a twenty-year break, the contestants were again divided into two age groups: junior and senior.
Winner of the IX International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers in Moscow, Leonid Sarafanov (Ukraine), gold medal. Photo: Ballet magazine
The gold medal winners of the 2001 Competition in the senior group were the following dancers: Russian ballerina Oksana Kucheruk, who became the Prima Ballerina of the Ballet of the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Ukrainian ballet dancer Leonid Sarafanov, the future premiere of the Mariinsky; Pinto Tiago Suares, a Brazilian dancer who became a soloist of the Royal Ballet in London after this competition and nowadays he is a guest soloist of the world's leading ballet companies; and a Chinese dancer and future soloist of the National Ballet of China.
In the junior group, the first prize winners were Misa Kuranaga from Japan, who became a prima ballerina of the Boston Ballet, and Russian dancer Polina Simionova. After the competition, Vladimir Malakhov (winner of the 1989 competition) invited her to join the Berlin State Ballet company, which he headed. In 2012, she joined the American Ballet Theatre. Moreover, she is a regular guest soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
First prize for choreography got Radu Poklitary (Belarus) for his piece Three Georgian Songs. Later he founded the Kyiv Modern Ballet theatre.
