The competition has been going on for two days at the National Dance Theater. The III. Budapest Ballet Grand Prix is organized by the Hungarian Dance University (HDU) and the event will be held at the National Dance Theater, with the gala taking place at Müpa Budapest on Friday, November 21. After Wednesday’s semifinals, the finalists will be decided, but those who do not make it to the finals will not be disappointed, as there will be special ballet classes for them on Thursday.
Photos by Mária Balogh / BBGP
The competition got off to an exciting start at the National Dance Theater, where 68 individual performances and six pas de deux productions were presented to the audience. The competition was attended by masters, professionals, young people, spectators, and journalists alike. There were fewer people on Tuesday, but many more on Wednesday, and the organizers are expecting a full house for the finals. In the end, 77 competitors from 21 countries took part in the BBGP due to injuries.
The competition program began at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Before that, there was a lot of hustle and bustle in the foyer of the National Dance Theater, where several sponsors also appeared. The Wednesday afternoon program was attended by two leaders of the competition’s organizing committee, ballet artist János Kiss, who has been awarded Hungary’s highest artistic honor, the title of Artist of the Nation, and Márta Fodorné Molnár, rector of the organizing university.
János Kiss said that he is excited to see what the standard will be like and is naturally curious about the Hungarian competitors. The university rector pointed out that many of the university’s international students came from Japan to participate in the BBGP. The institution has a good relationship with the Asian country.
There are many outstanding Japanese ballet artists in the field, and on Wednesday evening we will find out how many of them will be in Thursday’s final.
