The Fonteyn: RAD’s International Ballet Competition

The Fonteyn is a prestigious ballet competition for young dancers. Meet recent winners and learn why it’s similar to The Great British Bakeoff!

 Alison @ Dance Dispatches  09/10/2024  Dance Community  No Comment

Word association time: what comes to mind when you think of ‘dance competitions’?

Perhaps movies like Step Up (pick a number, any number) or Work It! spring to mind. Or maybe you remember those young girls under direction of the infamous Abby Lee Miller in Dance Moms. And, if you love glitter, you probably pictured the celebrities of Strictly Come Dancing – and their professional partners who have dance battled it out for big titles in Blackpool.

But the ballet world has dance competitions, too.

Flashback to 1931, when The Genée (now known as The Fonteyn) made its debut.

The Genée / The Fonteyn History

The global competition for young dancers trained in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus began in 1931, when the Adeline Genée Gold Medal was awarded to Felicity Garratt. 

The ballet competition has taken place nearly every year since, as the RAD’s flagship annual event — in London and abroad, globetrotting to the likes of Sydney, Hong Kong, Toronto, and Cape Town. 

Open to qualified non-professional dancers aged 15 – 19 at the cut-off date, The-Genée-turned-The-Fonteyn is seen as a ‘launch pad for a professional [dance] career.’ Past winners include Steven McRae, Francesca Hayward and Harris Beattie. 

Throughout its the years, the ballet competition has expanded to offer silver and bronze medals, plus additional awards: Musicality Award, Choreographic Award, and the Dame Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award, which all come with cash prizes. Winners now also have the opportunity to be considered for a variety of scholarships at various schools. 

The Fonteyn Competition Structure

As Tim Arthur Chief Executive of the RAD summarises the tradition, “Each year [at The Fonteyn] we bring together dancers from around the globe for a week of dance that they’ll remember and cherish forever.” 

The Semi-finals

This Semi-finals take place over three days, during which the dancers receive coaching and are judged on: 

1. a classical ballet class on stage
2. a performance of classical ballet repertoire from an approved list
3. a performance of their ‘Dancer’s Own’ choreography — a piece choreographed by themselves, their teacher or a peer

Then a panel of esteemed judges selects the finalists, based on technique, musicality and performance qualities. 

The Finals

Alison Roberts-Tse of Dance Dispatches attended The Fonteyn 2024 final at His Majesty’s Theatre in London as press. The event felt equal parts competition, showcase and jubilant celebration of dance amongst ballet royalty — in a structure not unfamiliar to The Great British Bake Off. 

First, each of the finalists performed the solos commissioned specifically for the competition. Let’s liken this to TGBBO’s ‘Technical’ challenge, since every female performed the same choreography and every male performed the same movement phrases. (Albeit, they did receive guidance, unlike the bakers.)

It was a fascinating 40-some minutes, inspecting the various nuances each dancer emphasised in Andrew McNicol’s choreography. (However, this may not be everyone’s cup of tea: watching a female variation 8 times and a male variation 4 times… although they did intersperse the male and female dances.)

Next, the finalists showed off their strongest suits in their ‘Dancer’s Own’ choreography, which ranged from ballet to contemporary dance. Dancers had the most freedom here, which makes it like TGBBO ‘Showstopper’ challenge, no?

And finally, the dancers displayed their classical ballet skills with a ‘Signature Bake’ — er, Classical Repertoire Variation. 

The finalist judges (some of who also judged the Semi-finals) took each performance into account and deliberated, while the audience was treated the balcony pas de deus from Romeo & Juliet by Northern Ballet dancers Harris Beattie and Saeka Shire. 

Bestowing awards to the medallists capped off the evening, honouring the most outstanding dancers from the international RAD community of more than 400,000 students. What an achievement!

Note: Dance lovers can ​watch The Fonteyn – Finals livestream and replay at medici.tv . 

The Fonteyn 2024 Judges, Commissioned Choreographer & Producer

Judges: 

• Dame Darcey Bussell DBE, President of the RAD
• Alessandra Ferri OMRI, Artistic Director Designate of the Wiener Staatsballett 
• Jose Alves, former Senior Artist at Ballet Black (Semi-final only)
• Kevin O’Hare CBE, Director of The Royal Ballet (Final only)

Judges for the Choreographic and Musicality Awards:

• Dame Monica Mason DBE
• Ashley Page OBE

Commissioned Choreographer: Andrew MicNicol

Producer: Lynn Wallis OBE

“The competition brings dancers from around the world together to share the joy of dance, develop their artistry and to make brilliant memories.” — Andrew McNicol, The Fonteyn 2024 Commissioned Choreographer

The Fonteyn 2024 Winners

• Gold: Antonia Maria Cramb (aged 18, currently training at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland)   
• Silver: Lydia Hough (aged 18 from the UK, currently training at English National Ballet School) 
  + she won the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award — and received a vote from Dance Dispatches.
• Bronze: Alfie-Lee Hall (aged 18 from the UK, currently training at Elmhurst Ballet School)
  AND Ernesto Young (aged 17 from Australia, currently training at Alegria Dance Studios)
  + he won the Dancer’s Own Choreographic Award.
• Musicality Award: Christie Anderson (aged 20 from the UK, currently training at Art of Motion International Dance Laboratory)

Congratulations to all of the medallists and participants! 

Tags: Ballet, competition, England, Europe, London, UK