Serge Lifar Contest Ends Quietly

The National Opera hosted the third Serge Lifar International Ballet Contest all last week. It had a promising start and one could expect the ballet youth to show high level. Classical ballet numbers making up the gala concert were brilliantly performed by winners of the two previous contests and laureates of the Fouette children's festival at Artek. The international jury was headed by Yuri Grigorovich. Hardships experienced over the past five years had a toll on the number of contestants and scope, yet Oleksandr Bystrushkin, head of the Kyiv City Department of Culture, is convinced that “today we can keep the Lifar contest at a level that will be a good basis for its future flourishing, after all these crises. There aren't that many ballet forums across the world, and the one in Kyiv is unique, because the contestants include dancers and choreographers. This gives the dancing art an opportunity for comprehensive development. And of course, the Lifar contest is a matter of pride for our city. It will live on no matter what.”

The awards were distributed between the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian schools of ballet, traditionally the strongest in the former USSR. The grand prix, a monetary award and sponsor's present, went to Russian Natalia Kalinichenko, soloist with the National Opera. In the Choreography category nomination first and second prizes were not awarded, the jury decided, and the bronze medal was shared by Belarusian Radu Polkitaru for the drama study Quo Vadis? and Ukrainian Serhiy Bondur for his Shaman and Shiva numbers. All told, 21 contestants received prizes and sponsor's presents, yet there were no discoveries to provide an impact on ballet within Kyiv, let alone on an international scope.