Ballet dancers win international awards

Qiu Yunting, one of the principal ballet dancers of the National Ballet of China, won the Best Female Dancer award during the 31st Benois de la Danse — the international ballet prize known as the "Ballet Oscars", which was founded in 1991 in Moscow by the International Dance Association (now the International Choreography Union).

Qiu stood out among her competitors — ballet dancers from seven countries, such as Russia, French and Canada, winning the award with her role, Tatiana, the heroine of Onegin, which is one of the world's greatest ballets based on Russian poet and playwright Alexander Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin.

"I am very honored. I was one of the nominators nine years ago and this award is like a dream come true," said Qiu, who accepted the award on June 20 in Moscow, expressing her gratitude to the National Ballet of China and the organizers of Benois de la Danse.

Svetlana Zakharova, who is the artistic director of the Benois de la Danse and chairman of the jury of the prize, commented on Qiu's performance: "She portrays the role from a teenager, to a young woman and then to a middle-aged woman perfectly. She was a great surprise during the competition and she is Tatiana."

At the same time, on June 23, two young ballet dancers from the National Ballet of China won prizes during the 12th USA International Ballet Competition. Yan Mengxuan, 16, from the school of National Ballet of China, won the gold prize in the junior women category and Kong Zihan, 18, won bronze for the junior men category. They also won Best Junior Couple award for their performance of Sleeping Beauty.

Zhao Xinyue, 23, won the silver prize for the senior women category and Guan Chongzheng, 24, won the silver prize in the senior men category. Both of them dance with the National Ballet of China. Chen Zihao won the Choreography Award with the dance piece Children of the Stars.

Held every four years, the 12th USA International Ballet Competition runs for 24 days with 12 performances, gathering competitors from 19 countries.