GENÉE 2016 WINNERS

After attracting 86 of the world’s finest young dancers from 12 countries, aged between 15 to 19 years-old, we’re thrilled to announce medallists for the Genée International Ballet Competition 2016 at the Sydney Opera House.
Two Australian golds
Gold medals were awarded to Australian dancers Joshua Price, 16, from Queensland (taught by Janice Heale of the Amanda Bollinger of Dance Academy) and Maeve Nolan, 16, from New South Wales (taught by Marie Walton-Mahon of Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy).
The female silver medal was won by Australian dancers Talia Fidra, 15, (taught by Heidi Landford of Claudia Dean Coaching) while male silver was taken out by Brayden Gallucci, 17 (taught by Hilary Kaplan of Alegria Dance Studios).
The female bronze was awarded to Madison Ayton, 15, Australia (trained by Annette Roselli of Annette Roselli Dance Academy) and the male bronze was given to British finalist Hamish Scott, 18, UK, (trained by Sarah Dickinson of Elmhurst Ballet School).
Joshua Price was also presented with the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award.
The Choreographic Award, sponsored by Mondor, was awarded to Japanese dancer Kanon Kondo, 16 (trained by Moritoshi Kudo of the Kudo Ballet School).

The Judges
The final was judged by David McAllister, Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, and Francesco Ventrigilia, Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
David McAllister said: ”I thought the finalists were really fantastic and I think all of the dancers came up from the semi-finals. We really enjoyed seeing Tim Harbour’s choreographed piece because it helped us see the finalists in a different light as we had seen all the other solos at the semi-finals. It was a really difficult decision and we kept changing our minds all the way through the evening. On the night we felt that these winners were the ones that deserved the medals.”