The Prix de Lausanne Partner School Choreographic Project with Pre-professional Year student Emile
On Sunday 4 February, after a captivating week of classes, rehearsals, and performances with young dancers from around the world, the 52nd annual Prix de Lausanne came to a close in Switzerland.
Dedicated to supporting and promoting exceptional young dancers, the Prix de Lausanne awards participants training opportunities at internationally recognised ballet schools and companies, helping them pursue a career in dance.
Continuing the School’s relationship with the esteemed competition since its conception, Pre-professional Year student Emile Gooding represented The Royal Ballet School in the sixth year of the Partner School Choreographic Project.
The Partner School Choreographic Project is an initiative that brings together students from 27 partner schools to experience a collective choreographic creation with a renowned choreographer.
During the week-long event, Emile took classes alongside other young dancers, and had the incredible opportunity to work with Kinsun Chan, choreographer and Artistic Director of Semperoper Ballett. In a few short days, the original choreography, entitled SCHRäääG, was staged and subsequently performed in front of audiences at Lausanne’s Beaulieu Theatre.
Emile shared his enriching experience:
Reflecting on nine days at the Prix de Lausanne
I had the most incredible nine days at the Prix de Lausanne, surrounded by incredible artists with whom I was fortunate enough to share the stage for two performances at the end of the week.
SCHRäääG by Kinsun Chan
A piece called SCHRäääG was created by Kinsun Chan, assisted by two incredible assistants [Aurelie Gaillard and Juliette Rahon] who helped us ease into the vocabulary of the choreography and enjoy every moment.
The title of the piece, SCHRäääG, in German, means Aslant/on a diagonal, which represents the key characteristic of the piece with everything being slightly strange and peculiar. Alongside this, Kinsun Chan was invested in presenting 25 different personalities in this piece, showing a powerful sense of individuality.
‘An incredible experience’
Although it was a challenging week with long days of rehearsals, it was all worth it, and I’m back in London feeling privileged to have had such an incredible experience.
Each day, we had class in the morning with a wide range of teachers from across the world, such as Paris and America. It was interesting to learn different methods and discover new ways of moving inspired by some incredible former dancers who now teach.
After class, we had many rehearsals for the choreographic piece that required us to be grounded in a contemporary sense and discover our individuality, which was a key component of the piece. Between these rehearsals, it was nice to meet all the other students from the partner schools involved in the project and form new relationships that will last into the future.
Watch SCHRäääG by Kinsun Chan:
Thank you, Emile, for sharing your experience, and to the Prix de Lausanne for facilitating this incredible opportunity.
Image credit: Gregory Batardon