Winners of the Prix de Lausanne 2026 and award for Sylvia Guillem
The 54th edition of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, from February 1 to 7, 2026. It culminated in the final evening on Saturday, February 7, during which fourteen of the twenty-one selected finalists were awarded prizes. At the same time, French prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem received an award for her lifetime contribution to the world of dance. Max Cowan and Kyra Wentzlaff were honoured as young choreographic personalities. On Sunday, February 8, this year's Prix concluded with a traditional gala performance.
Prix de Lausanne 2026. Foto Gregory Batardon.
This year's jury consisted of former Martha Graham Dance Company soloist Tancredo Tavares, Queensland Ballet Academy director Christian Tàchev, former prima ballerinas and principal dancers Yuan Yuan Tan (San Francisco Ballet), Ayako Nakano (Theater Basel), Lourdes Lopez (New York City Ballet), and Thomas Lund (Den Kongelige Ballet, Denmark), current principal dancer of The Royal Ballet Steven McRae, director of John Neumeier's Balletschule Hamburg Gigi Hyatt, and artistic director of The Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare as chairman, selected fourteen winners.
The winners, who received scholarships to partner schools of their choice or internships with partner companies, were William Gyves, Milo Demeulenaere (USA), Dayeon Yeom, Jiyul Jeon, Mingyun Son, Suhyeok Bang, Tae Eun Kim, and Ara Shin (South Korea), Jingxinyu Huang, Yihan Quin, Yufei Cao (China), Yusei Sai (Japan), Jetro Thijs (Belgium), and Dragos Gramada (Romania), who also received the additional Beaulieu Award and the prize for the best contemporary performance. Pietra Rego de Souza was the winner of the online audience vote, while the audience at the venue voted for Dayeon Yeom.
In the sixth edition of the Young Creation Award for emerging choreographers, five of the original sixty-one entrants made it to the final: Max Cowan, Isabella Howard, Clara-Maria Oniceag, Anastasiia Protsenko-Herman, and Kyra Wentzlaff. On Monday, February 3, the jury awarded prizes to Max Cowan's Ritual and Kyra Wentzlaff's Tidal. Their works will be included in the selection of contemporary dance variations for next year's Prix de Lausanne.
Since 2018, the Life Achievement Award has also been presented for lifetime contributions to the world of dance. This year, the award went to French dancer Sylvia Guillem, former étoile of the Opéra national de Paris, prima ballerina of The Royal Ballet, and a phenomenon of the 1990s and 2000s. Previous recipients include choreographers Jean-Christophe Maillot, Pierre Lacotte, and Wayne McGregor, choreographer Carolyn Carlson, dancers Mavis Staines and Alessandra Ferri, and dancers Carlos Acosta and Li Cunxin.
Source: www.prixdelausanne.org
