The inaugural competition was held in January 2008 and was a tremendous success on a number of levels, boosting local tourism and further enhancing Cape Town's reputation as the cultural gateway to Africa. This motivated the City of Cape Town to step forward as the principal sponsor of the event, hence the name change from the South African Ballet International Competition to the Cape Town International Ballet Competition (CTIBC).
The CEO and founder of the CTIBC is Dirk Badenhorst, formerly of the South African Ballet Theatre and who is now the director of Mzansi Productions, the South African dance company based in Johannesburg.
The panel of judges will once again consist of high-profile dance personalities from all over the world. They include Eduard Greyling from South Africa, formerly a principal dancer with CAPAB Ballet and the Het Nationale Ballet in Holland; the president of the World Dance Alliance, Hae Shik Kim from South Korea; Lisa Pavane, the head of student training at the Australian Ballet School; Mario Galizzi, a ballet teacher at the Higher Institute of Art at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Charla Genn, a choreographer and teacher based in New York City; Septime Webre, the artistic director of The Washington Ballet, and Xin Lili, the artistic director of the Shanghai Ballet in China. Badenhorst will confirm the remaining judges shortly and has also announced the participation of talented dancers from South Africa, Cuba, South Korea, Japan and China.
Providing an international showcase opportunity for local and foreign dancers, the CTIBC, like competitions at Varna in Bulgaria and the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, will typically enable directors of various dance companies in SA and abroad to seek out new and exciting talent. The event will also empower young dancers through competitive engagement and exposure to international dance trends and training techniques. During the week of the competition, the CTIBC organisers will hold master classes and workshops for South African teachers and dancers, both professional and non-professional, from communities throughout the Western Cape and other provinces. The interaction forms part of Badenhorst's mandate to enable dance companies and training institutions in our country to benefit from working together and collectively having access to the guests from the international ballet arena. His recent cross-cultural project with the National Ballet School of Cuba resulted in an historical visit by 15 dancers who performed to great acclaim in Cape Town and Pretoria. Badenhorst's recent visit to the Helsinki Ballet Competition and other dance companies and schools in Europe, combined a fact-finding mission with invitations to the heads of several high-profile training institutions to send their dancers to participate in the CTIBC this year.
The competition categories in ballet and contemporary, are divided into a Junior/Amateur Division (15 to18 years) and a Senior/Professional Division (19 to 28 years). The judging criteria for the two categories will differ and each will work on a point system per round. There will be cash prizes in all divisions, with the winner in the senior category receiving R100 000 and the winner in the junior section being awarded R80 000. The Michel Tesson Performing Arts Trust, Guernsey, will be donating most of the prize money.
The second Cape Town International Ballet Competition will take place from 12 to 17 July, 2010, at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town. Entries close in April.
