AKI SAITO
Having won many prizes, awards and medals, Ms. Aki Saito joined the Royal Ballet of Flanders as a demi-soloist, where later she was promoted to the rank of principal dancer. During her time as prima ballerina, she danced the leading roles in the company’s various repertoire. Besides of her work with Ballet Flanders, Aki Saito is also a world-renowned professional having been invited as guest artist to numerous international ballet companies and performed with Ballet de Santiago, Hong Kong Ballet, the Gala des Etoiles in Paris, The Gala of Prix de Lausanne, Dance Salad Festival/Houston, The Prague Ballet Gala and many more.
She is currently a faculty member at the Royal Ballet School in Antwerp, and a frequent Jury member in renowned ballet competitions, such as Prix de Lausanne.
She was knighted to become Chevalier in the Order of Leopold, a very prestigious recognition in Belgium, for her outstanding work in the field of dance.
MAIA MAKHATELI
Maia made her principal role debut at the age of 19 with the Colorado Ballet, dancing Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty in 2006. Later she moved to the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the UK and a year later she joined the Het Nationale Ballet – Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, where she was promoted to principal dancer in 2010. As the leading principal dancer of the company, she is performing all the female leading roles in both the classical and neoclassical repertoire, and she is a regular guest artist with many other opera companies, including Teatro San Carlo, The Rome Opera, The Macedonian Ballet Theatre, The Slovakian Ballet Theatre, and many more. She is a multi-time winner at various international ballet competitions, and she has been awarded with several ballet grants and prizes, including Dance Europe’s Critic’s Choice Award and the prestigious Alexandra Radius Ballet Award.
TO BE ANNOUNCED
TO BE ANNOUNCED
TO BE ANNOUNCED
BBGP2023 Jury Members
Suejin Kang
Former principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet and Artistic director of Korean National Ballet.
The Chair of Budapest Ballet Grand Prix Jury.
Thomas Edur CBE
Former principal dancer of the English National Ballet
Jan Broeckx
Artistic Director, Ballett-Akademie of the University of Music and performing Arts, Munich.
Daria Klimentová
Former principal dancer of the English National Ballet, teacher of the Royal Ballet Upper School.
David Makhateli
Former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, London. Founding director of D&D Art Productions and Grand Audition.
Tamás Solymosi
Director of Ballet of the Hungarian State Opera House, founder of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute
Anna Tsygankova
Principal dancer of the Dutch National Ballet
