Juliana Paiva & Leticia Domingues

Photo: Juliana Paiva & Leticia Domingues by Gregory Batardon

On Thursday, we caught up with two of this year’s 9 Brazilian candidates at the Prix: Leticia Domingues (one of the finalists), and her colleague at Petite Danse School in Rio de Janeiro, Juliana Paiva. They had just finished coaching sessions and were relaxing in the backstage area:

“I have just had my first contemporary coaching this afternoon. It was great to have Christophe Dozzi (coach for choreographer Jorma Elo) explain the precise movement he’s looking for with the help of the translator. He also touched on all the positioning on stage, so it was a really a good run-through.” Leticia tells us.

She adds: “Everything is weighted equally here – contemporary and classic – so I’m also finding the classical coaching excellent, we are given very useful pointers. For instance, how to negotiate the raked stage, so we can show ourselves in the best possible light.”

Juliana had finished her classical session for the day and had yet to do her contemporary coaching later that evening. “Monique Loudières gave me some really useful tips on carriage of the arms, épaulement and also on musicality and overall artistry. It’s great to work with such distinguished coaches – they have so much experience! Monique hails from Paris Opera Ballet which is such a prestigious institution: Grand Pas Classique is a French variation so it was great to have her coach me as she knows it inside-out.”

Before arriving in Lausanne, Leticia had travelled to the Youth America Grand Prix pre-selections. “I have been practicing the Coppélia variation for quite some time, since last September! I’m still working on perfecting it and Monique’s pointers are really helping me out.”

Juliana is very impressed with her colleagues here at the Prix “It’s been very different from training at home. The caliber of the candidates is so consistently high, I am very impressed with them. I am loving it here”

When asked about role models, Juliana and Leticia quickly agree on fellow Brazilian ballerina Cecilia Kerche. Plus Juliana adores the Royal Ballet`s Alina Cojocaru, while Leticia looks up to Jury member Tamara Rojo: “She is wonderful, we watch her on DVD a lot! When I found out she was a member of the jury, at first I couldn’t really believe it, I was ecstatic!”

Do the girls have any favorite male dancers? Leticia says enthusiastically: “Ivan Vasiliev, he’s fabulous! I saw him do the Don Quixote pas de deux in New York at a gala, his performance was unforgettable! He projects so much energy, I was in the last row and it still reached me.” Juliana loves ABT´s Marcelo Gomes: “he taught us at school, he is a true artist – a pure class act!”

Summing up the week here in Lausanne, Leticia adds:

“The Prix de Lausanne has surpassed all my expectations. I have only ever seen the Prix through online videos. I never imagined I would be here one day. The studios, the organization of everything is wonderful. It is an invaluable experience for me.”