January 19, 2012
ABT's Nancy Raffa
to Serve as Guest Judge of the
40th Anniversary
Prix de Lausanne International Competition,
January 30-February 5, 2012
Nancy RaffaNancy Raffa, ballet mistress and former dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will serve as an honorary guest judge of the 40th Anniversary Prix de Lausanne International Competition. The competition takes place in Lausanne, Switzerland, January 30-February 5, 2012.
Nancy Raffa was the youngest and first American female to win the Gold Medal at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition in 1980. She joined the corps de ballet of ABT in 1981 and danced with the Company for four years. Raffa joined Ballet de Santiago in 1985 as a principal dancer and was also a principal dancer at Ballet National Franƒìaise de Nancy. In 1992, she was appointed a principal dancer with Miami City Ballet. Raffa began her teaching career in Miami and, in 1994, joined the staff of the Miami City Ballet School, becoming the coordinator for the school’s summer intensive program and Ballet for Young People program. She was twice awarded a special teacher’s recognition from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts and won a grant from the United States Information Services to act as a cultural ambassador and teacher for the company and school in Honduras. Raffa holds an Ace certification in exercise physiology and graduated magna cum laude in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from St. Thomas University. In 2005, she was named Director of ABT’s Summer Intensives and was appointed ballet mistress with the Company in 2007.
The Prix de Lausanne, an annual international competition for young dancers aged 15 to 18, was created in 1973 by Swiss industrialist Philippe Braunschweig. Its goal is to discover, promote and support the world’s finest young talents. The winners of the contest receive scholarships that allow them to complete their training for one year in one of the schools or
professional dance companies that are partners of the Prix de Lausanne. Previous winners of Prix de Lausanne scholarships and prizes include Alessandra Ferri, Julie Kent, Ethan Stiefel, Diana Vishneva, Gillian Murphy, Marcelo Gomes, Yuriko Kajiya, Zhong-Jing Fang and
Hee Seo.
For more information about the Prix de Lausanne, please visit www.prixdelausanne.org.