Jarmila Jeřábková Award 2002

PRESS RELEASE
International choreographic competition in contemporary dance

From 15 till 18 November at the theatre of Duncan Centre Conservatory the third year of the choreographic competition for young choreographers Jarmila Jeřábková Award took place. Competing choreographers and dancers came from Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Every year the range of participating countries from Central and Eastern Europe expands. Each competitor presents two pieces – a free work and an obligatory choreography, the latter being each year set to music by a different composer of modern Czech classical music. This year the set composer was Otmar Mácha. The international jury (chairperson Nina Vangeli, CZ, Eva Blažíčková, CZ, Jana Návratová, CZ, Elizabeth Le Quesne, GB and Julia Ritter, USA) awarded the first prize to the Hungarian choreographer Ferenc Fehér for his two solos Avondo and Pictures in Black and White. The jury noted the purity of its dynamic physical outline, the author’s treatment of space and detail and his ability to lead a dialogue with the difficult piece of music. The second prize went to Slovenia for the presentation of the free choreography Three Sisters by Mojca Majcen, Anka Rener and Alexandra Vučkovič. The jury praised their energetic choreographic gesture, diverse and at the same time compact composition maintaining girlish sincerity. The third prize was surprisingly won by non-dancers -students of the alternative branch of the Theatre Academy of Performing Arts, Prague: Tomáš Měcháček, Tomáš Jeřábek, and Tomáš Bořil, who, by their non-dance style, presented an ironic image of dance affectation in their piece MATAPA. This year’s competition was closed by a solemn evening. In the presence of the composer Otmar Mácha his Partita for Brass Instruments was performed by the Brass Quintet. Also performed were the award winning choreographies. The Jarmila Jeřábková Award 2003 was announced; the obligatory composer would be Marek Kopelent. The fourth year will bring competitors from additional countries – the Baltic republics – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.