The Royal Ballet announces that seven recently graduated dancers join the Company on 12-month, fixed term contracts for the 2020/21 Season.
From The Royal Ballet School, six graduates join the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme: Denilson Almeida Afonso, Daichi Ikarashi, James Large, Hanna Park, Maddison Pritchard and Marianna Tsembenhoi.
The Company also welcomes Marco Masciari, graduate of the Académie Princesse Grace and gold medallist at the 2020 Prix de Lausanne. Masciari joins the Company as the Prix de Lausanne dancer for the 2020/21 Season, continuing the longstanding scholarship arrangement with this prestigious dance award.
The Aud Jebsen Young Dancer programme was established in 2014 and provides recently graduated dancers a year’s contract to be nurtured and perform alongside the corps de ballet of The Royal Ballet. This programme is central to The Royal Ballet’s commitment to support emerging talent and since its inception has provided contracts for 35 dancers at the first stage of their careers.
Created in 1973, the Prix de Lausanne is an annual international competition for young dancers aged 15 to 18 years old. Prix de Lausanne winners have the opportunity to dance with a professional company on a 12-month scholarship.
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet said ‘I am delighted to welcome a new group of dancers to join us, made possible solely through the wonderful generosity of Aud Jebsen and through our continued scholarship arrangement with the Prix de Lausanne. This continued support means so much to The Royal Ballet.’