Press & accreditation

For this 2023 anniversary edition, we are incredibly thrilled to have gathered an excepetional 10-member Jury made of renowned personalities of the dance world. Each of them is either linked with our partner institutions, a Prix de Lausanne alumus or a renowned figure from the dance world. Further aspects are taken into consideration to compose the panel such as a wide geographical representation, a mix of youth and experience and a representation of various styles of dance. They are:

• Jean-Christophe Maillot – Jury President
  Choreographer & Director, Ballets de Monte-Carlo
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1977
  Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award 2018
• Diana Vishneva – Jury Vice President
  Artistic Director & Founder, International festival of contemporary choreography Context. Diana Vishneva
  Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Ballet
  Former Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1994 (Gold Medal)
• Sylviane Bayard
  Former Artistic Director, Deutsche Oper Ballett Berlin
  Etoile, Stuttgart Ballet
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1973
• Julie Kent
  Artistic Director, The Washington Ballet
  Former Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1986
• Tetsuya Kumakawa
  Artistic Director, K-Ballet Company
  Former Principal, the Royal Ballet
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1989 (Gold Medal)
• Endalyn T. Outlaw
  Dean of Dance, UNCSA School of Dance
  Former Principal Dancer, Dance Theatre of Harlem
• Melanie Person
  Co-Director, The Ailey School
• Christopher Powney
  Artistic Director and CEO, The Royal Ballet School
• Martin Schläpfer
  Director & Chief Choreographer, Wiener Staatsballett
  Artistic Director, Ballettakademie Wiener Staatsoper
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1977
• Christopher Wheeldon
  Choreographer & Artistic associate, The Royal Ballet
  Prize Winner, Prix de Lausanne 1991 (Gold Medal)

If you would like to get in touch with any member of the Jury before or during competition, please let us know! You can either mention it in your accreditation form or send us an email. Please indicate the nature of your request (interview, photo, film) and the details (date, approx. duration, number of people in your team, etc.) Thank you very much in advance!

You may find pictures in this Dropbox folder, such as the official artworks for the 2023 edition as well as daily pictures of this Prix de Lausanne 2023!

A Press conference will take place before the Finals on Saturday, February 4^th, 2023 (1pm to 2pm).

You will be able to meet and ask questions to:

• The President of the Jury: Jean-Christophe Maillot
• The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient: Carlos Acosta
• Kathryn Bradney, Artistic & Executive Director of the Prix de Lausanne
• Stephane Lagonico, Prix de Lausanne’s Foundation Board President

The accreditation form is now closed.

For any questions or inquiries, please contact press@prixdelausanne.org

Kathryn Bradney – Artistic & Executive Director of the Prix de Lausanne

Find her picture here

Kathryn Bradney brings over 35 years of professional dancing experience plus administrative knowledge to the Prix de Lausanne.

After an international career as a principal dancer, teacher and ballet master for Maurice Béjart (Béjart Ballet Lausanne) from 1986 to 2005, she opens her own successful private ballet school, company and filming company and becomes deeply involved with the Prix de Lausanne since 2006. She has been a member of the video preselection jury and the South American preselection jury. She produced the filming and live stream, has been Production Manager from March 2017 and, since November 2017, the Associate Director of the Prix de Lausanne.

Ms. Bradney aims to uphold the Prix de Lausanne’s mission of excellence: to reveal potential, provide access, promote scholastic education and enhance healthy habits for dance students on all continents. Looking forward, she is committed to expanding the competition worldwide, to scout new talent and to support dancers and reveal new opportunities for them well into their professional dance careers.

Her experience

She was born in the USA and studied dance in New York where she graduated with honors. Right away, she danced professionally with various companies such as the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (Balanchine repertory), the New York City Opera Company at Lincoln Center and, from 1986 until 2005, with the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, where she was a principal dancer performing internationally the Béjart masterpieces such as Bolero, Bhakti, Firebird, Ballet for Life, Hamlet, King Lear/Tempest, The Silk Road among many others.

In 2001, she also becomes Maurice Béjart’s assistant as the ballet mistress and main teacher for the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. She is a guest teacher for the Stuttgart Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Conservatoire Supérieur de Danse de Cergy-Pontoise in Paris, Ballet du Rhin, Tanz Akademie Zurich as well as giving master classes in Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai, Taipei, the Solothurn Dance Competition, the Migros Dance Competition in Zurich and at the Prix de Lausanne among others. In 2001, she dances and acts in the movie «One Last Dance» with Patrick Swayze.

Since 2004, she is a choreographer for various galas from the opening ceremony of the International Harp Symposium in Lyon, the reopening of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne to creating many different choreographies that are performed by the Igokat Company.

In 2006, she forms the Igokat Dance Academy and Dance Company in Lausanne with her husband Igor Piovano. Since 2006, she is a jury member for the Prix de Lausanne’s video pre-selections, and in charge of the video trailers and blogs for the competition. In 2017, she becomes the Production Manager, she is then named the Associate Director and she is currently the Artistic & Executive Director of the Prix de Lausanne.

If you would like to know more about our Foundation’s and competition’s missions, please go to:

• Our history
• Our mission
• Who we are