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The first Budapest Ballet Grand Prix finals took place on Thursday 23 November at the National Dance Theatre in front of a full house. Out of a field of 89, 30 competitors from seven countries made it to the final.

Those who missed out on the final were not left without consolation, as on Thursday the young ballet artists had the opportunity to consult the jury members.

Photo by Patrik Tomasik and Zsófi Falcz

In the evening programme, BBGP Competition Director Tamás Nagy welcomed the audience in Hungarian and thanked them for their interest. He then introduced the members of the jury in English and encouraged the audience to express their appreciation by applause or ovation, as this could influence the judges’ decision. Finally the President of the Arts Council of the Hungarian Dance University, the competitor director of the BBGP, wished the audience a good time and opened the finale with a ceremony.

The junior category started with the 105th competitor, followed by fourteen other performances.

The finals continued with the Pas de Deux category, where three couples proved their skills. The category representatives left the stage to great applause, and their performances were well received by the audience. Of course, this did not mean that the jury members felt the same way, but it was nice to hear…

Finally, after a short break, the twelve finalists in the senior category took to the stage, with Paraguay, Portugal, Japan, Korea and Hungary competing in the finals.

Afterwards, the decision was made and the results were announced.

The jury decided the winners of the first edition of the Budapest Ballet Grand Prix:

Junior category

1. Núria Fernandes – Conservatório Internacional de Ballet e Dança Annarella Sanchez
2. Eloy Gil Vicente – Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Fortea
3. Németh Lili – Hungarian Dance University

Senior category

1. Porkoláb Cecília – Hungarian National Ballet Institute
2. Eunseo Kim – Kyunghee University
3. Ezgi Toydemir- Hungarian Dance University

Pas de Deux category

1. Rio Nakata and Wisse Scheele – Bolshoi Ballet Academy
2. Saito Hiraku and Yu-Rou Chiang – Hungarian Dance University
3. Kamill Kökény-Hámori and Dobra Janka – Hungarian Dance University

Hungarian Dance University (HDU) Special Award to José Barbeiro of Junior category.

Best Hungarian Performance by the Hungarian Academy of Arts: Nagy Gvendolin

Best contemporary performance by the Herend Porcelain Manufactory: Valeria González Maidana

Young Talent – Solo by the Municipality of Budapest: Balog Márton

Young Talent – Pas de deux by the Municipality of Budapest: Dobra Janka, Kökény-Hámori Kamill

dancewear coupon of 200 euros by iDanceStore: Nagy Gvendolin

Global Dance Open direct entry: Balog Márton, Benedetta Maria Carrara, Nakos Míra Evanthia

 

Special awards offered by Hungarian Dance University

Free entries for the International Summer Intensive Ballet Course 2024 at the Hungarian Dance University:

105 José Barbeiro

110 Lilla Emese Varga

124 Jakub Kovác

211 Eunseo Kim

 

Special awards offered by the jury

by Daria Klimentová

scholarship to International Ballet Masterclass in Verona 2024, 2-6 January

 

100% scholarship to

112 Núria Fernandes

117 Németh Lili

105 José Barbeiro

124 Jakub Kováč

208 Boboi Félix

238 Pablo Doria

301 Kökény-Hámori Kamill

302 Hiraku Saito

303 Rio Nakata

 

50% scholarship (excl. deposit) to

106 Bo-Gyeong Sing

118 Min-Seo Kong

123 Matilde Brito

130 Mariia Pragnova

131 Airi Fukumoto

229 Szűcs Liza

236 Valeria González

108 Eloy Gil Vicente

 

30% scholarship (excl. deposit) to

115 Nakos Míra Evanthia

 

by David Makhateli

 

Grand Audition scholarship

112 Núria Fernandes

 

Acceptance to Grand Audition Barcelona

218 Nagy Gvendolin

 

Admission to Grand Audition Budapest

210 Juliette Rapenne

211 Eunseo Kim

212 Iza Fašun 213 Xián Blanco Carbón

214 Anastasija Dokič

217 Vlada-Nicol Demchenko

224 Hommochi Sakurako

226 Shi Han Yi

229 Szűcs Liza

234 Ezgi Toydemir

240 Porkoláb Cecília

302 Hiraku Saito

301 Dobra Janka és Kökény-Hámori Kamill

 

by Jan Broeckx

Short-term scholarship

112 Núria Fernandes

 

One week summer school to „Art in Motion Munich” by the Ballet Academy, University of Music and Performing Arts Munich

30%

114 Balog Márton

123 Matilde Brito

136 Koga Toko

50%

117 Németh Lili

124 Jakub Kováč

 

International Ballet Competition Belgium 2024

50%

105 José Barbeiro

108 Eloy Gil Vicente

124 Jakub Kováč

234 Ezgi Toydemir

20%

139 Madeleine Lee

212 Iza Fašun

218 Nagy Gvendolin

 

Congratulations to all participants and winners!

The closing event of the Budapest Ballet Grand Prix, the Gala, will take place on Friday at 19:00 at Müpa Budapest, with the Győr Ballet. All tickets for the event are sold out.