The New York Times
July 4, 2006 Tuesday
Late Edition – Final

Ballet Medals Awarded In International Contest

By JENNIFER DUNNING

JACKSON, Miss., July 2

The cream of Jackson society was at Thalia Mara Hall on Saturday
night for the Olympic-style awarding of medals to the winners of the
eighth USA International Ballet Competition.

Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, stood up from the
audience for a bow and stayed until the end of the gala event. A
starting field of 121 dancers from 27 countries had been narrowed to
13 medalists from 8 nations, with fans muttering about who had been
”robbed,” and ballet students screaming for their favorites. There
were corporate prizes like that from Tutu.com and the TutusDivine
Awards in addition to medals and other honors. Twenty-seven years
after its promising but rather down-home start, the Jackson
competition has clearly arrived.

It all began in 1975 when Ms. Mara, a dance writer and teacher who
died in 2003, was invited to Jackson to develop professional ballet
in the city. There were then no other international competitions in
America. Jackson was far from being a major dance city, and besides,
it was so very hot there in the summer.

But Ms. Mara brought in big ballet guns like Robert Joffrey, who had
a lot of experience with ballet contests throughout the world. The
city went into full-gear Southern hospitality mode. Today the event,
held every four years, is one of six major international ballet
contests around the world, including the biannual New York
International Ballet Competition. Ten of the 13 junior (15 to 18
years old) and senior (19 to 26) medalists had won honors in at least
two other international competitions.

American competitions now lure the subculture of professional
contestants. A performance of the ”Black Swan” pas de deux from
”Swan Lake,” danced by Misa Kuranaga of Japan, who won the senior
gold medal, and Daniel Sarabia (both of the Boston Ballet), was so
coolly polished that it looked out of place in a competition program.

But something surprising happened on Saturday night. The two demons
of international competitions — hard-sell bravura dancing and
flirtatious contemporary ballet solos for male competitors — were
much less in evidence. And the highlight of the gala, which rightly
drew the cheering audience to its feet in the evening’s only standing
ovation, was an astonishing performance of the pas de deux from ”Le
Corsaire” by Joseph Michael Gatti, a senior bronze medalist from the
United States, and Adiarys Almeida Santana, a Cuban finalist, both in
their early 20’s and soloists at the Cincinnati Ballet.

Mr. Gatti and Ms. Santana managed to make technical feats that would
have been astounding from much more experienced virtuoso performers
look like the purest and most honest ballet dancing. The tricks were
all there — dazzling multiple turns, most of all — but they were
delivered with a lack of affectation and with seamless, fluid
finishes that made rare artistry of the gimmicks.

The men tended to outdance the women this year. (No women’s junior
gold medal was awarded.) One exception was Sasha De Sola, the
16-year-old winner of the Junior Best Couple Award, with her fellow
American Mathias Dingman as her partner, who brought an intriguing
delicacy to steely bravura dancing in the pas de deux from ”Flames
of Paris.” Jurgita Dronina (senior silver, Lithuania) stood out for
the stylishness of her dancing in an excerpt from the ”Sleeping
Beauty” grand pas de deux.

But even more impressive was the easy virtuosity of the male
medalists, among them Jeffrey Cirio (junior bronze, United States);
Masayoshi Onuki (senior bronze, United States); Isaac Hernandez
(junior gold, Mexico); and Brooklyn Mack (senior silver, United
States).

Another reassuring sign was the performance by Daniil Simkin, a
19-year-old German senior gold medalist, an audience favorite and the
winner of the TutusDivine Award, who made something almost charming
of ”Les Bourgeois,” a coy solo choreographed by Ben Van Cauwenbergh
to music by Jacques Brel.

The contemporary choreography was lackluster, with the exception of
”September,” created by Ben Lida, who won an award for the witty
piece, danced by Yui Yonezawa (senior bronze, Japan), and Georgi
Smilevski.

The medalists also included Christine Shevchenko (junior bronze,
United States); Denys Cherevychko (junior silver, Ukraine); Sae-Eun
Park (junior silver, South Korea); and Kayo Sasabe (junior bronze,
Japan). The award for best senior couple was given to Davit
Karapetyan of Armenia and Vanessa Zahorian, his noncompeting partner.

For the record, Japan and the United States tied for the most medals
(four each), with one each going to Germany, Lithuania, Mexico,
Ukraine and South Korea.