South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) announces exciting add-ons to the 10th anniversary event

The South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) is proud to announce the 10th event since inception taking place at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town from 23 to 26 July 2023 as a hybrid event.

The SAIBC was founded by Dirk Badenhorst in 2008 and was initially presented biennially. During the pandemic in 2021, the week-long competition for the first time entirely online and from then it  was decided to present the SAIBC annually. It is Africa’s most established ballet event of its kind that attracts dancers of the highest calibre from across the globe and South Africa. 

This year the competition will have three age groups: ages 9 to 12 (Scholar), 13 to 16 (Junior), and 17 to 22 (Senior), featuring both Classical Ballet and Contemporary categories and the recently introduced duets, trios, and group categories. 

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, exciting new elements will be introduced to the 2023 SAIBC. They include the SAIBC Recognition Awards that will acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by South African individuals based in this country and abroad; those who have significantly contributed to the growth and sustainability of Ballet in SA and the World. In keeping with this, it’s important to note that in 2018 the SAIBC was the first to acknowledge, through an onstage ceremony, the tremendous contribution made to ballet in this country by Mr. Johaar Mosaval who grew up in District Six and enjoyed an illustrious career with the Royal Ballet. 

Secondly, 2023 will see the addition of a choreographic category for the first time where local and international choreographers will be invited to enter new works for adjudication by the SAIBC’s expert panel of judges. Dances can no longer than three minutes for either a solo, duet or group entry and choreographies may be performed in practice clothing or full costume.

To honour the late SAIBC photographer Pat Bromilow- Downing, there will be an exhibition of outstanding dance photographers who have been capturing the competition since the outset. Their excellent work will showcase both stage and behind-the-scenes images in the Artscape foyer ahead of the start of the 2023 SAIBC. 

Confirmed jurors to date are Ted Brandsen, Director of The Dutch National Ballet; Madame Feng, Director of the Beijing Ballet; Hyo Jung Jun, Director of Incheon Ballet in South Korea and a  former gold medalist at the inaugural SAIBC in 2008; Carol Kinsey, former principal  ballerina with CAPAB Ballet and Cape Town City Ballet; Christoph Boehm from the Berlin State Ballet School and Javier Monier Jr from Cuba who is currently a member of Mzansi Ballet in Johannesburg. 

ENDS

Joshua Williams (SA) who is pictured, won a special prize in the 2016 SAIBC that earned him a scholarship to attend the prestigious Zurich Dance Academy in Switzerland. Joshua danced a powerful solo from the new, original ballet to be launched at the South African State Theatre in Pretoria in April 2023, called The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe