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History
The members of the juri
The participants
Laureates
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  The author of the idea, the founder and director of the festival Marina Romanovskaya:
«Nowadays Vitebsk is often mentioned as the cultural capital of Belarus. It's very nice to hear but we know that back in the early XX century our city was one of the centers of European culture, first of all, due to the avant-garde, which has already become the world classics. With the Festival we contribute to Vitebsk revival as a part in the global creative process. Facing numerous difficulties related to non-commercial character of the project, we could feel the support of the city itself, its mysterious inner aura, hidden from extraneous look. The main property of the IFMC is people who believe that the international language of dance helps us understand each other and ourselves. I'm firmly convinced that flashes of the new talents on the Festival stage are worth of any efforts. We are grateful to all our friends in various countries and we hope to meet more confederates who realize that the best of today's avant-garde will become the classics of XXI century».



History
The International Festival of modern choreography in Vitebsk takes place annually since 1987. Initially, it was an experiment with the aim of finding among the choreographers and ballet companies those who had been exploring either intuitively or deliberately contemporary forms and techniques of dance. Several years of search made it clear that the undertaking was a success. IFMC grew into the biggest and the most prestigious forum of the contemporary dance in the countries of former USSR. The festival has discovered and made renowned the names of “pioneers”. Among them were “Still life factory” (Vladimir Polyakov, Moscow), “Aura” dance theatre (Berute Lietucaite, Kaunas, Lithuania), Nickolay Ogryzkov’s contemporary dance school (Moscow), dance theater “Provincial dances” (Yekaterinburg), “Fine five dance theater” (Rene Nymmik, Tallinn, Estonia), Natalya Fiksel’s dance theater (Novosibirsk), Elena Bogdanovich’s studio (Moscow), “Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet” theater (Perm). The outstanding works of the above companies have become a “treasury” of the Festival, whose history is bonded indissolubly with their creative biographies.
The IFMC remains open to the daring projects of young choreographers and dancers. Its main event is the International Competition biennale in two nominations: one-act ballet and choreographic miniature. This is the only competition in the world where the works are estimated as a whole (i.e. neither choreography nor technical skills are judged separately, but the entire creative work). According to the rules, Grand Prix is only awarded for the work, which is performed in Vitebsk for the first time and is considered by the International Jury to be an outstanding piece of art.
Aside from the Competition itself, master-classes by well-known choreographers and teachers, research seminars on the art history as well as performances, photo-exhibitions, video-shows, news conferences and round tables are included into the Festival program. Over 40 prominent ballet troupes and solo dancers from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Poland, USA, Germany, France, Netherlands, Israel, China, Japan have performed at IFMC within recent years.

Among the accredited media were “Culture” weekly (Minsk), “Literature and art” weekly (Minsk), “Beloruskaya delovaya gazeta” weekly (Minsk), “Komsomolskaya Pravda” daily (Moscow), “Ballet” magazine (Moscow), “Moscow tribune” weekly, “Itogi” weekly (Moscow), “Dance Magazine” (USA), “Les Saisons de la Dance” magazine (France), “Ballet Internationale” (Germany), “Dancer’s Path” (Japan), Belarusian National TV Company, Russian State Television, Estonian TV Company etc.


 
The members of the International Competition Jury:
Valentin Yelizariev - choreographer, professor, artistic director and chief choreographer of the National Academic Bolshoy Theatre Ballet of Belarus
Raza Hammadi - choreographer, artistic director of the “Jazz-art ballet”, France
Alain Bernard - choreographer, the president of the Swiss Association of ballet artists, Switzerland
Benjamin Feliksdal - choreographer, teacher, Netherlands
Pascale Just - art historian, critic, France
Valery Panov - choreographer, artistic director of the “Panov ballet theatre of Israel”
Leonid Kozlov - choreographer, artistic director of the “Dance International Company”,
USA.
Kenji Usui - art historian, critic, professor and director of the Russian ballet Academy in Tokyo, Japan
Xiao Suhua - choreographer, professor of Beijing Choreographic Institute, China
Serge Peyrat - art historian, deputy director of the “Theatre de la Ville”, France
Alla Sigalova - choreographer, artistic director of “Independent troupe” theatre, Russia
Mark Heim - choreographer, teacher and ballet master, USA
Evgeny Panfilov - choreographer, artistic director of the State “Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet”
theatre, Russia
Sigrid Gareis - art historian, critic, Germany
Askold Makarov - professor, artistic director and chief choreographer of the State ballet theatre “Choreographic miniature”, Russia
Lorren Barret - art historian, artistic director of the Contemporary dance festival “Choreo-graphique”, France

The participants of the IFMC research seminars:

Guri Baryshev - professor of the University of Culture, Belarus.
Julia Tshurko - doctor of art history, professor, head of the sub-faculty of choreography of the Belarusian Academy of Music, Belarus
Valeria Uralskaya - professor, vice-president of the association of choreographers of Russia, editor-in-chief of the “Ballet” magazine, Russia
Larisa Barykina - musical and ballet critic, chief of musical and literary department of Yekaterinburg opera and ballet theatre, Russia
Audronis Imbrasas - author of survey on dance for the “Lietuvos rytas” weekly, head of the Lithuanian centre of the information on dance, Lithuania
Natalya Dmitrieva - art historian, head of department of the Theatrical Union of Russia
Mitsuko Miyazaky - art historian, ballet critic, Japan
Vladimir Kotykhov - art historian, ballet critic, Russia
Philippe Verrielle - Editor-in-chief of the “Le Saisons de la Dance” magazine, France
Olga Gerdt - ballet critic, Russia
Emil Dimitrov - the Chairman of the Foundation of the International ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria


The master-class teachers:
Frederic Lescure Pascaline Verrier (France)
Barbara Hailey Mark Heim (USA)
Christine Brunel (Germany)
Valery Panov Natalya Shupaeva (Israel)
Nickolay Ogryzkov Evgeny Panfilov Tatiana Baganova Natalya Fiksel Olga Pona (Russia)
Rene Nymmik (Estonia)
Teng Aimin (China)


 
The participants of the IFMC International Competition /1992 - 1999/
Belarus:










Russia:








































Ukraine:




Poland:

Uzbekistan:

Estonia:



Azerbaijan:

Latvia:

Israel:


Lithuania:




China:


Moldova:

Japan:

Netherlands:

 
“Lanthanides” theatre, Minsk
“Gostitsa” folk-theatre, Minsk
“TAD” contemporary dance group, Grodno
“Quadro” contemporary dance group, Gomel
“Gallery” modern ballet, Grodno
Troupe of the sub-faculty of choreography of the Belarusian University of Culture,
Minsk
Troupe of the Belarusian State Choreographic College, Minsk
“Natalya Furman’s little ballet”, Minsk
Radu Poclitaru project, Minsk

“Still life factory”, Moscow
“Dance-College” contemporary dance group, Toliatti
“Free ballet” company, Moscow
Ballet troupe of theatre of a musical comedy, St. Petersburg
“Graphic ballet” company, Moscow
Natalya Fiksel’s dance theater, Novosibirsk
“Jazz-Andre” company, Moscow
“Russian seasons”, ballet, Moscow
“Art ballet” company, Moscow
“The road from the town” dance theatre, Kazan
“Avers” ballet, Novokuznetsk
Alexander Kukin’s dance theatre, St. Petersburg
Antonina Krasnova’s dance studio, Moscow
“Paradox” jazz-ballet, Moscow
“Choreographic miniatures” State Academic theatre of ballet, St.-Petersburg
Elena Bogdanovich project, Moscow
Contemporary dance group of Tcheliabinsk Institute of culture and arts
“Provincial dances” theatre, Yekaterinburg
“Small theatre”, St.-Petersburg
Tcheliabinsk contemporary dance theatre
“Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet” theatre, Perm
Maya Popova’s dance theatre, St. Petersburg
“Kinetic” dance theatre, Moscow
“Cannon dance” jazz-modern dance school, St. Petersburg
“Nota bene” troupe, Moscow
“Contrasts” dance theatre, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski
“Moscow” russian chamber ballet
“Graffiti” dance theatre, Yaroslavl
Taisia Korobeinikova’s mono theatre, Tcheliabinsk
“Vampyter” dance theatre, Novosibirsk
“Mar'in spev” group, Severouralsk
“Free movement territory” dance theatre, Moscow
“Kypling” independent dancing team, Yekaterinburg
Elena Konnova’s independent troupe, Moscow
“Elta” dance theatre, Yelets
“Visavi” dance theatre, Saransk
Maria Bolshakova’s contemporary dance studio, St. Petersburg
Natalya Agulnik’s contemporary dance theatre, Kaliningrad National University
Olga Bavdilovich’s studio, Vladivostok
Contemporary dance theatre, Volgograd

“Color-ballet”, Herson
“Empire of dance” free ballet school, Dnepropetrovsk
Alla Rubina’s dance theatre, Kiev
“Other dancing” contemporary dance school, Dnepropetrovsk

Lublin dance theatre

“Reggy” dance theatre, Dushanbe

“Nord Star” dance theatre, Tallinn
“Fine five dance theatre”, Tallinn


Troupe of the choreographic school, Baku

Olga Zitluhina’s modern dance company, Riga

Erika Tsimbrovskaya’s dance theatre, Eilat
Yaron Margolin’s ballet theatre, Jerusalem

“The three from Vilnius” company
“Aura” dance theatre, Kaunas
Rasa Maguilayte’s project, Vilnius
«Fluidus» ballet, Kaunas

“Beijing modern dance Company”, Beijing
“Guangdong modern dance Company”, Guangdong

“Arbore” chamber ballet, Kishinev

“Chizu Shoda modern dance fragment”, Tokyo

Danilo Mazzotta, Amsterdam

The IFMC International Competition Awardees
“Talks for the three” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Nickolay Ogryzkov
“Free ballet” company, Moscow, Russia
“Totem” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Elena Bogdanovich
Russian chamber ballet, Moscow, Russia
“From Thursday to Friday” one-act ballet
Choreography: Alexander Pepelyaev
“Kinetic” dance theatre, Moscow, Russia
“The list of illusions” one-act ballet
Choreography: Alexander Pepelyaev
“Kinetic” dance theatre, Moscow, Russia
“Eight Russian songs” one-act ballet
Choreography: Evgeny Panfilov
“Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet” theatre, Perm, Russia
“Hasn’t happened” one-act ballet
Choreography: Tatiana Baganova
“Provincial dances” theatre, Yekaterinburg, Russia
“Night apparitions” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Hou In
Guangdong modern dance company, China
“Illusion of estrangement” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Shi Xuan & Zhou Nian Nian
Guangdong modern dance company, China
“Prayer in twilight” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Shi Xuan & Zhou Nian Nian
Guangdong modern dance company, China
“The exiled from paradise” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Olga Pona
Tcheliabinsk Contemporary dance theatre, Russia
“Twilight” one-act ballet
Choreography: Tamar McLorg
“Aura” dance theatre, Lithuania
“The two”
Choreography: Valery Arkhipov
The duet of the ballet troupe of the “Satiricon” theatre, Moscow, Russia
“A man in state of waiting” one-act ballet
Choreography: Tatiana Baganova
“Provincial dances” theatre, Yekaterinburg, Russia
“Who am I?” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Gao Chen Min
Liu Zhen, China
“What is see-kale?” one-act ballet
Choreography: Alexander Pepelyaev
“Kinetic” dance theatre, Moscow, Russia
“Do I have you or I don’t?” one-act ballet
Choreography: Olga Pona
Tcheliabinsk Contemporary dance theatre, Russia
"The wedding party"", one-act ballet,Choreography: Tatiana Baganova "Provincial dances" theatre, Yekaterinburg, Russia
“Worlds” choreographic miniature
Choreography: Gao Yan Jinzi & Teng Aimin
“Beijing modern dance company”, China

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