Dear dancers,
Welcome to the 2nd edition of Elegance!
Almost a year has passed since our first online competition and thinking back, I created Elegance to give hope and opportunities to dance students and young professionals during these unusual isolation times due to COVID-19. Sadly, some of us have lost family members and friends. In many parts of the world, lockdown has been kept for months and, by times, it has been difficult to remain motivated for all of us.
I truly admire and congratulate all those young dancers who were able to continuously push themselves to train hard on and off at their schools, or companies, all depending on the latest measures and restrictions. With masks during class, which we all know is a true challenge, or at home with floors that are less than ideal with very little space. Just for that, all of you deserve a medal!
I feel proud to say that Elegance became much more than the online competition I had in mind at first! Competitors have received scholarships to prestigious ballet schools, incredible summer intensives and even contract offers were given in our first edition. So, our competition is certainly an online experience filled with lots of wonderful opportunities! This time even more than last time and I am beyond excited about that.
Another topic I would like to talk about are the financial situations of dance students, or professionals and the costs that usually come with competitions and auditions. I remember myself in ballet school at the Conservatory of Vienna – quite a few times I was extremely lucky that my school paid all the costs for me to participate in international Competitions such as Prix de Lausanne, the Nureyev Competition in Budapest, Serge Lifar in Kiev and a few more. Without their financial support, I would never have gone to any of those very famous and important Competitions.
When we talk about the costs of such events, we have to consider the flights, hotel, incredibly expensive costumes, high registration fees and much more. Not everyone can afford these and it is extremely sad to miss the opportunity of being discovered by international judges, ballet masters, choreographers and company directors, due to financial constraints.
With our online competition, young dancers would save most of those costs, but still have the opportunity to win prizes, scholarships and receive contracts, as well as to be discovered and seen by a jury of world-renowned personalities of the dance world.
With all that in mind, I am really looking forward to our 2021 edition and the wonderful talents which we will be able to support and witness again this time!
I can’t wait to see you all and I thank you for your trust!
Sandra
