A dispatch from TONY intern Erica Sheftman:

The New York International Ballet Competition is a different beast: For three weeks, 48 hopefuls get an all-expense paid trip to New York where they have the opportunity to appear at the Rose Theater. They perform for a prestigious panel of judges—both dance luminaries and normally elusive artistic directors—including Nanette Glushak, Stanton Welch, Ashley Wheater and Mikko Nissinen (Julio Bocca, director of Ballet Argentino and ex-ABT superstar, was to participate in the jury, but has been mysteriously detained in Moscow.)
In past years, the jury has read like an implausibly prodigious hall of fame—Maria Tallchief, Natalia Makarova, Violette Verdy, Alexei Ratmansky, Victor Ullate, Maya Plissetskaya, Melissa Hayden, Karen Kain, Carla Fracci, Boris Eifman, Claude Bessy and Alicia Alonso. Past participants aren’t too shabby either: dancers who began their careers at the NYIBC include Jose Manuel Carreño and Gillian Murphy.
This year, the perks include three weeks of Raymonda polishing with Cynthia Gregory and the chance for a one-year contract with ABT II (the Igor Youskevitch Award). But you begin to wonder why there aren’t hordes of eager, glassy-eyed ballet students knocking down the door of NYIBC’s somewhat desolate midtown office.
Although NYIBC would appear to be a front-runner in the competition circuit, others like Youth America Grand Prix—headed by Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev and a baby in comparison—generate more buzz and better applicants. Last night’s conclusion of round one (the final 12 couples) was a three-hour ordeal that subjected the audience to a dozen largely unspectacular versions of the Raymonda Wedding Pas de Deux. Perhaps dancers are terrified of NYIBC’s unique format—they arrive oblivious and are told of the three pas de deux they will perform three weeks later on the spot. (At least that’s what’s supposed to happen; rumor has it that costume specifications were sent out weeks earlier to ensure time for custom tailoring and were quite particular about the details: Mediterranean flavoring and pink flourishes).
Competitions like YAGP attract “competition babies” who have been rehearsing pas de deux from the Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and Don Quixote for months, if not years. They have lived and breathed precise pinky placement and eyelash expression. At NYIBC—even with coaching by Cynthia Gregory (though who really knows how much?)—the results are dramatically different. There’s a lot of sheer grit and determination
What Youth America Grand Prix can be—a showcase of 200-degree developée whacks and dozens of pirouettes on a single go with largely no infusion of artistic deference—NYIBC avoids. The technical challenges in the Raymonda pas de deux are piqué tours and athletic stamina; without the proper training, it’s near-impossible to execute commendably. The “Mediterranean” flair—the slight bows of the head in deference, the soft clap of a tsaritsa, the absolute decorum, elegance and restraint of the famous silent piano variation for the woman—was lost on most competitors, who punched and slapped and clapped and plowed through the variations with little regard to context. The exception was a Russian–Estonian couple, Olga Malinovskaya and Artjom Maksakov (look for them at the podium on Sunday). Other impressive candidates included Daniel Castillo Cisneros of Mexico, who had a charmingly sensual rapport with his partner, Elisa Ramos Brossier, also of Mexico; Marco Pagetti, with beautiful legs, from Italy; Paula Cassano and Adrian Lopez of Argentina, for their statuesque gorgeousness; and the American Douglas Horne, who stole the show with his swashbuckling, intoxicatingly theatrical fervor. Too bad Bocca wasn’t there—it’s exactly what he was known for, and he would have loved it.

Erica Sheftman attended the School of American Ballet for ten years.