Emma Sandall

For me, the Prix represents the dance world at its best –  warm, generous and caring, while consistently of the highest caliber. It tirelessly strives to fund opportunities for talented young dancers from around the world, no matter their financial situation. Once you’ve been to the Prix, it becomes a family, a network you have for the rest of your life.
Dance your hearts out! Show the jury and the audience your beautiful and unique artistry. That is what the world wants to see. A shining new artist lighting up the stage.

Emma was born in Sydney, Australia. After training at Academy Ballet in the Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus she won a silver medal at the Adeline Genée Awards in London in 1993 and a Prix de Lausanne Prize in 1994. Subsequently, Emmatrained at the Royal Ballet School and Australian Ballet School.

In 1997 she joined Béjart Ballet Lausanne, where she danced some of Béjart’s great female roles. Emma then danced with The Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet and West Australian Ballet, which she left in 2009 to start her own dance company, Ludwig, in Perth, Australia. During this period, she performed a wide-ranging repertoire spanning classical, contemporary, and modern works, including leading roles and works created for her. With Ludwig, Emma created numerous short and full-length dance works, including for So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Her solo Crossing Satie won third prize at the Rome International Choreography Competition in 2011, and her solo BodySong was a finalist at the Stuttgart International Solo Dans Theater Festival in 2012.

Emma has maintained a long association with the Prix de Lausanne. In 2006 she was invited to perform in the Interlude, and in 2012 she served as a jurist for the 40th Prix de Lausanne. Alongside her performing and choreographic career, she has developed a significant practice as a dance writer and commentator. In 2013 Emma became Dance AustraliaMagazine’s Sydney correspondent, returning to Lausanne in 2015 to cover the Prix de Lausanne for the magazine. That same year she began the advice column Ask Emma for Dance Australia.

In addition to her work in dance writing and commentary, Emma has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects internationally. In 2015 she created a dance projection with Nashville Ballet to accompany Ben Folds’ Piano Concerto at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, as part of the Ben Folds Declassified concert series. Her writing for Dance Australia and Dance Magazine has continued internationally, and her article “Is It Time to Completely Rethink Ballet Class?” was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s Top Ten Articles in 2018.

Now based in Australia, Emma works across performance, writing, teaching, and creative producing. Her recent solo work An Ambivalent Woman of 37, inspired by Sheila Heti’s novel Motherhood, premiered in Sydney in 2024 and toured to Nashville later that year. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Arts and Cultural Management from Deakin University and is currently pursuing further postgraduate study, with particular interests in dance history and pedagogy.