Competitions: European
Competitions in Europe and South American abound, but the most famous and generous is the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland. Created in 1972 by Phillippe and Elvira Braunschweig, dance students in their youth, the Prix has become the most prestigious because of the quality of its jurors, teachers and entrants. It also has the advantage of being geographically accessible and being contained within a theater, Palais de Beaulieu, where the trials and the final performance are held.
In the past, Americans were ill-prepared with classical variations and modern dance works to enter for scholarships. But in 1992, a beautiful 17-year-old, Natasha Fielding, born in Surry, England, who had been enrolled in the King School of Dance in the RAD method as a child, appeared as an entrant. At the age of 7, she had been enrolled in the Connecticut Academy in Waterbury, when her family moved to the Northeast. Her first performing experience was the result of auditioning for a role in a production of "Coppélia" at the age of 9. This was for the Nutmeg Conservatory in Torrington.
She stayed at Nutmeg, for nine years with Sharon Dante and Joan Kunsch, in the Vaganova system, and with special coaching by Eleanor D'Antuono, was ready to enter the Prix. She performed the variation from Act I, "Giselle" and an excerpt from Balanchine's "Who Cares," as her contemporary offering. She ended up a finalist. But not so fast, preparations before the trip taught her that she had to be constantly challenged without too much concern for the outcome: the NEA Arts Recognition and talent search in Miami, (second place), IV New York, International Ballet Competition (semi-finalist), IV Paris International Ballet Competition (semi-finalist), all prior to the Prix. She missed her senior year mid-term exams (which she made up later). As a finalist Prix winner, ( "it was scary because there were so many good dancers competing") it was then time to make an important decision: join Joffrey or Boston Ballet; join the Royal Ballet graduating class; or attend Brown University, Cornell, or Wellesley College. Boston Ballet won out.
She has some after-thoughts. "The national and international ballet competitions have made a pool of upcoming talent from which directors and choreog-raphers can recruit. Participation is beneficial for young dancers to see the larger world of cultures, languages, countries, and traditions. All this contributes to artistry. The process of preparation for the competition itself is just as valuable as the event. The hours of coaching, study, improvement and refinement all help to finish the student and begin the process of making the transition from student to artist. The benefits come from becoming an entrant in the best and most competitive competitions...not the easy-to-win ones."
She found herself on the competition stage once more at the New York International Ballet Competition where she was asked to perform at the NYIBC, 1996 gala. It was there she me her future husband, Joshua Brooksher, a graduate of the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington, D.C., who had spent a year at the St. Petersburg Academy in Russia and performed with the Tulsa Ballet and Net National Ballet. He decided to make the romantic choice of joining Natasha in Boston. Eventually, they married and founded the Southwest Classical Dance Institute in Mesa, Arizona. "There is so much untapped talent out here," she continues, "but like the desert after a monsoon rain, that talent can bloom under the nurturing and watchful eyes of an experienced teacher." Good early training, a willingness to challenge oneself and the capacity to encompass differences in styles and techniques seem to be the common attributes of winners.
E-mail contacts: Southwest Classical Dance Institute: registrar@SWCDI.com for information and summer intensive brochure. Prix de Lausanne info: prix.lausanne@fastnet.ch.