Raymonda
Marc Haegeman

Dutch National Ballet receives Petipa Award

25 September 2023

Last Saturday, Ted Brandsen, director of the Dutch National Ballet, received the Diamond Petipa Award from the Petipa Heritage Foundation on behalf of the entire company. The presentation of the Petipa Awards took place during the annual Petipa Awards Gala at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.

The Petipa Award is awarded annually by the Petipa Heritage Foundation to preeminent ballet artists, choreographers, dance critics, and dance institutions that have made significant contribution to the preservation and promotion of classical ballet and its rich cultural heritage. Apart from Dutch National Ballet, the other Petipa Award 2023 laureates were Natalia Makarova, Pierre Lacotte (in memoriam), Lucia Lacarra and Hugo Marchand.

Ted Brandsen, artistic director of Dutch National Ballet: “We are very pleased and honoured to receive this award, which was presented to me by Helgi Tómasson, until recently Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet - a position he fulfilled for over 30 years! That we, a relatively young company, have received this award for our contribution to classical ballet, shows the tremendous development Dutch National Ballet's has undergone and the high level on which our dancers, who are among the absolute best of the world, perform.”

During the Petipa Awards Gala, Maia Makhateli and Giorgi Potskhishvili, principal dancer and soloist with Dutch National Ballet, performed duets from Raymonda and Le Corsaire, and both received an 'Artistic Excellence Recognition'. 

Petipa Award
The Petipa Award was established in 2019 to recognize exceptional talent and dedication to the development of ballet. Among previous recipients are artists such as Manuel Legris, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera and Mikhail Kaniskin. They are nominated annually by the members of the Honorary Advisory Committee, who are highly respected, leading ballet experts from around the world, including Altynai Asylmuratova, Vladimir Malakhov, David Dawson, Isabelle Ciaravola and Krzysztof Pastor.

Photo: Raymonda - Dutch National Ballet 2022 | © Marc Haegeman