Serge Lifar competition is being revived

Vadym Pysariev, art director of the Solovianenko Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Donetsk, informed The Day about the competition’s revival, and that the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition will take place on March 27 – April 2, 2011 in Donetsk. We remind our readers that the competition was resumed after a six-year break. Last time it took place in Kyiv in 2004, after which it was terminated for lack of funds, despite the fact that it was a path to grandeur for a constellation of talented dancers. Now Pysariev’s Creative Olympus charitable foundation is in charge of financing the event. The main prize will be 20,000 dollars, which is twice what other similar international competitions offer. The first, second and third prizes are 10,000, 5,000 and 3,000 dollars, respectively. Yury Grigorovich, a famous Russian choreographer, will head the jury. “He was asking me about it for a long time, ‘Vadym, how did that happen, Ukraine had a welcome card — the Serge Lifar Competition. There are such competitions in Moscow, Paris and Helsinki. Why did it die in Ukraine?’” Vadym Pysariev related the maestro’s words, “The artists and choreographers came from all over the world to Kyiv. It was not a national but international project. If we did not revive the competition, it would die. I am glad that we are coping with everything and that it will take place in Donetsk.” It is supposed that the jury will be as international as possible, coming from Ukraine, Russia, France, Japan, South Korea, China, and Norway. The organizers expect that each member of the jury will bring his choreographic school to Donetsk, which is why the competition will be tough. The young choreographers, who are going to come to the competition, have an assignment — prepare a show to music by Sergei Prokofiev, who was born in Donetsk region. This is symbolical, as Serge Lifar asked Prokofiev to create the music for the On the Dnipro ballet.