The Young Friends of the Prix de Lausanne Club was created to give young dance enthusiasts in the region the opportunity to discover the competition from the inside.
For an annual fee of CHF 20, you can become a member of the Club. This will enable you to sign up for a guided tour backstage and observe the activities of the candidates who work throughout the competition week with top-level teachers and coaches. Each of these candidates, from all over the world, will be giving their all in the hope of winning a scholarship that will pave the way for a career as a professional dancer.
Other exciting dance-related events are organised every year!
You don’t have to be a dancer to join the club. All young ballet enthusiasts aged between 8 and 18 are welcome.
Inscris-toi maintenant !
Fondation en faveur de l’Art Chorégraphique
Nom de la banque : Postfinance SA
Numéro de compte : 10-2007-3
IBAN : CH74 0900 0000 1000 2007 3
Swift code / BIC : POFICHBEXXX
Référence: cotisation Cercle des Amis
How did you come up with the idea for the Club?
Having been lucky enough to take part in a tour of the Paris Opera organised for the Friends of the Opéra Garnier, we were able to explore this magnificent building and discover all its inner workings: on the public side, but also on the stage and backstage, from top to bottom and down to the smallest detail. Visiting the Rotunda, the costume workshops, the underside of the stage with its capstans like in a boat, the underground lake and so many other marvels … what an opportunity! It was a fascinating visit.
We also had the opportunity to visit the Paris Opera Ballet School in Nanterre and the New York City Ballet School, as well as the Julliard School, to name but the best-known. Each time, it was an exciting discovery.
Our experience of the stage as professional dancers and our knowledge of how a theatre works from the artists’ point of view made us want to share life backstage and our knowledge with the young people.
And finally, we’ve seen with the students at our ballet school that young people are eager to learn, to know, and to discover. So it was clear to us that the Prix de Lausanne should have its own Young Friends Club. All that remained was to convince and create… And so the Club was born.
How does a visit by the Young Friends Club during Prix de Lausanne week work?
Young Friends can come and feel the atmosphere of this famous competition, from the artists’ entrance to backstage, in the wings, the studios, the auditorium, the dressing rooms, and the orchestra pit. What a wonderful discovery!
Not only do they get to rub shoulders with young dancers, renowned teachers, and directors from the world’s leading schools and companies, but they also get to experience the atmosphere of classes and rehearsals, on stage or in the studio, and the atmosphere of this world-renowned competition.
Our Young Friends of the Club also learn how things work behind the scenes, how “everything rolls” when the curtain opens. They learn about the back-breaking work and the many rehearsals required, for both performers and technicians, to ensure that every detail of the show is impeccable. We also explain to them what a technical grill, a pendrillon, a brigadier, an iron curtain, a water curtain, a perch, and a folding seat are. They assimilate the terms but also what they represent. Theatre has its own vocabulary.
They will remember for the rest of their lives where the courtyard and the garden are, whether you are in the audience or on stage. They go behind the scenes and are curious to know how the orchestra is formed, and how the musicians are seated, in the same way all over the world.
They are shown how special make-up is prepared, the different types of make-up used on stage, the evolution of costumes from the first ballets to the present day, what the different parts of a pointe shoe are, and how and who uses rosin in a theatre.
Did you know that there are four ways to open the big red curtain?
Our young friends are very curious, they ask lots of questions, they want to know everything, and these visits are exciting and full of surprises.
How does the Club function outside of Prix week?
During the year, young people can sign up for visits, conferences, and exhibitions on the theme of dance.
For example, we visited the Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire exhibition at the Musée Rath in Geneva, the Solothurn Competition, the Jean Cocteau exhibition at the Palais Lumière in Evian, and were able to see choreographers George Balanchine, Jean-Christophe Maillot and Yohan Inger at a lecture-demonstration entitled “Discovering the choreographers of our century”, organised by the Geneva Dance Center. We were also able to attend rehearsals by the Rudra Béjart School-Atelier and the Béjart Ballet Company.
The Club opens up all these possibilities. What could be more wonderful when you’re passionate? The Club des Jeunes Amis du Prix de Lausanne and its leaders are waiting for you.