And the Nominees for the Benois de la Danse Are…

April 11, 2017

Hollywood may have the Oscars, but ballet has the Benois de la Danse. The glamorous awards ceremony, held each year at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, recognizes the year’s best dancers and choreographers around the globe. The 2017 nominees were announced yesterday, and they include some of our favorite dancers, including two Pointe cover stars!

Two principal ballerinas from U.S. companies, American Ballet Theatre’s Stella Abrera and Boston Ballet’s Misa Kuranaga, were nominated for best female dancer. Abrera who graced our December/January cover, was nominated for her debut as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. It’s heartening to see this longtime ABT dancer receive the star treatment she deserves since her promotion to principal in 2015. Kuranaga, who was our August/September 2012 cover star, is being recognized for her performances in not one, but two roles: Tatiana in Onegin and Medora in Ivan Liška’s Le Corsaire.

Kuranaga in Onegin
Photo by Gene Schiavone, Courtesy Boston Ballet.

The Benois de la Danse will take place May 30–31. Stay tuned to find out who wins. Check out the complete list of nominees below:


Ballerinas

Stella Abrera for Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, American Ballet Theatre

Nina Kaptsova for Short Time Together, Bolshoi Ballet

Misa Kuranaga for Tatiana in Onegin and Medora in Le Corsaire, Boston Ballet

Ludmila Pagliero
for Other Dances, Paris Opéra Ballet

Seul-Ki Park for Aegina in Spartacus, Korean National Ballet

María Riccetto
for Tatiana in Onegin, National Ballet of Uruguay


Dancers

Gustavo Carvalho for Don Jose in Carmen, National Ballet of Uruguay

Davide Dato for Abderakhman in Raymonda, Vienna State Ballet

Jae-Woo Lee for Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, Korean National Ballet

Brooklyn Mack for Theme and Variations, The Washington Ballet

Hugo Marchand for Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Paris Opéra Ballet

Denis Rodkin for Solor in La Bayadère, Bolshoi Ballet

Jeffrey Cirio for Colas in La Fille mal gardée and title role in Prodigal Son, American Ballet Theatre


Choreographers

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for Exhibition, Royal Ballet of Flanders

Edward Clug for Handman, Nederlands Dans Theater

Hyo-Hyung Kang for Into the Pulse, Korean National Ballet

Akram Khan for Giselle, English National Ballet

Crystal Pite for
The Seasons’ Canon
, Paris Opéra Ballet

Alexei Ratmansky for Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, American Ballet Theatre

Demis Volpi for Salomé, Stuttgart Ballet

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