Photos: Prix Finalists Miko Fogarty & Adhonay Silva

Recap of Finals day! 

While the 20 finalists got to sleep in a little longer this morning, the remaining candidates were up bright and early to take part in the networking class. Taught by coach Patrick Armand, this class is attended by company and school directors from around the world. They can offer to these candidates apprenticeships and scholarships to year-round programs, as well as summer schools, with 39 of them receiving at least one offer – some even more than one! They all get to sleep on it first before it is decision time: this afternoon, in a “speed dating” format, the directors and staff would meet with them to discuss the next steps.

At 3pm, the finals kicked off with much excitement and technical fireworks. Many candidates received applause mid-variations and thunderous cheers afterwards. This year, jury and audience agreed on a winner: 15-year old Brazilian Adhonay Silva won both the audience prize and the first Scholarship, which affords him one year at a partner school of his choice. The Swiss candidate prize went to Miko Fogarty while Joel Woellner of Houston Ballet´s Ben Stevenson Academy took the contemporary dance prize. See our official press release for the full list of scholarships.

After catching up with his colleagues from Houston Ballet II, who shined in the interlude performance of Stanton Welch´s “A Dance in the Garden of Mirth”, Joel Woellner told us: “Today was a very good day, I am so very happy with how everything went – I can´t thank my teachers in the U.S. and back home in Australia enough – they are the reason I am here.”

A very happy Adhonay Silva added:

This is truly unexpected. This entire week has been an unforgettable experience and I will cherish it forever. Today was very important for me, I am happy because I was able to express all my feelings on that stage, they are such a big part of who I am as a dancer. Many thanks to everyone for all the support!

Our latest links roundup:              

• Read this: an interview (in German) with Jury member Tetsuya “Teddy” Kumakawa
• Portrait of a legend: Le Temps on Jury member Li Cunxin (inFrench)
• Check this out: lovely grand jété by Elisa Lons in The Guardian’s “Best News Pictures of the Day” 
• and this: The Huffington Post included the Prix in its series “Moving Image: Our week in Photos”
• Watch this: all our videoblogs in one place, including Adhonay & Joel on “Who’s On Today?”