«BENOIS DE LA DANSE» — the ballet «Oscar» was awarded in Moscow

This year, four laureates received awards among young ballet dancers. In the «Best Dancer Performance» category, the prize was awarded to two artists at once — Joshua Williams from South Africa for his role in the ballet «Second Chapter» and Dmitry Smilevski from the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia for his portrayals of Prince Desire in «The Sleeping Beauty» and Mercutio in «Romeo and Juliet». The «Benois de la Danse» award for Best Ballerina went to Renata Shakirova from the Mariinsky Theatre for her performance as Swanilda in the ballet «Coppélia». «The ballet community is a family that inspires, supports, and brings many emotions», said Renata Shakirova while receiving the prize. «It is a great honour for me to be a part of this family».

Among choreographers, Mthuthuzeli November from the Republic of South Africa won for the ballet «Second Chapter». Ballet figures from South Africa received two Benois awards for the first time.

The solemn ceremony concluded with a charity gala concert of the nominees for the 2025 Benois de la Danse Prize. Three Russian premieres were presented on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. Cape Town ballet dancers Mia Cumbes and Joshua Williams presented an excerpt from the ballet «Second Chapter» choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November. The scene titled Qash — a fragment of the sensational ballet «Sacred Dances» from Kazakhstan, staged by Benois 2025 nominee Mukaram Avakhri — was performed by artists from «Astana Ballet». Leading soloist of this theatre and Benois 2025 nominee Sundet Sultanov performed a fragment from the recent work of Slovak-German choreographer (student of John Neumeier) Christina Paulin «December Rain». For the first time in Moscow, artists from the Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Komi Republic presented «Carmen Suite» choreographed by Benois 2025 nominee Andrey Merkuryev. Renata Shakirova performed a fragment from one of the brightest premieres of the Mariinsky Theatre — the new version of the ballet «Coppélia» by Léo Delibes choreographed by Benois 2025 nominee Alexander Sergeev.

Traditionally, the next day, a charity event took place on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. The gala concert program «Stars of Benois de la Danse — Laureates of Different Years» opened with fragments from famous productions by Yuri Grigorovich — the ballets «The Nutcracker», «The Stone Flower», «Ivan the Terrible», «Spartacus», «Raymonda», «Legend of Love». Stars of the world ballet Svetlana Zakharova, Farukh Ruzimatov, Lucía Lacarra, Matthew Golding shone on the Bolshoi Theatre stage. The Bolshoi Theatre of Russia was represented by dancers Vladislav Lantratov, Ekaterina Krysanova, Mikhail Lobukhin, Dmitry Smilevski, Elizaveta Kokoreva; the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre — by Oksana Skorik and Nikita Korneev; the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre — by Oksana Kardash and Ivan Mikhalev.