USA: CZECH BARBARA KOHOUTKOVA WINS GOLD MEDAL AT NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION

Record ID: 789057

  • Title: USA: CZECH BARBARA KOHOUTKOVA WINS GOLD MEDAL AT NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION
  • Date: 18th June 1996
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 24) ALISA SOKOLOVA OF RUSSIA DANCES EXCERPT FROM "RAYMONDA"
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA7P96ULDV2D74ZFS1IUX7JRMRW
  • Story Text: A 17-year old Czech dancer won the only gold medal awarded at the fifth New York International Ballet Competition on Monday (June 24).
    Barbara Kohoutkova, of Prague, who trained with the Prague Conservatory of Dance, was also awarded 1,500 U.S. dollars.
    Kohoutkova came to the tri-annual competition after having won the first prize of the 1996 Helsinki Ballet Competition. She was also a finalist at the prestigous Lausanne Ballet Competiion in 1995.
    Kohoutkova's partner, Ivan Dinev, 23, of Bulgaria, shared the silver medal for male dancers with Gennadi Saveliev of Russia.
    Saveliev's partner, Tatiana Jouravel of Ukraine, also won a silver medal. Both are 22 and are members of dance companies in the United States.
    Jouravel, from Mogiviev-Podolski, Ukraine, is a member of the corps de ballet of the Boston Ballet in Massachusetts. She studied at the Kiev Ballet School until 1991. She is a former member of the Hartford Ballet in Connecticut.
    Saveliev, who is from Moscow, is a principal dancer with the New Jersey Ballet. He studied at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and the School of American Ballet.
    Bronze medals and 500 U.S. dollars each were awarded to Alisa Sokolova of Russia, Arional Vargas of Cuba and Roman Lazik of Slovakia.
    Sokolova, from St. Petersburg, has been a member of the Mariinsky Theatre since her graduation from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1995.
    The competition required twenty couples, aged 17 to 24, from 14 countries that included Colombia, Cuba, Japan, Macedonia and Mongolia, to perform a designated duet and learn two classical and contemporary pas de deux over two weeks.
    They danced the pas de deux from Michel Fokine's " Les Sylphides", from Marius Petipas's "Raymonda" and "Sleeping Beuaty" and from George Balanchine's "Who Cares." The competition was unusual in that contestants did not perform dances of their choice and were only told of the designated choreography on arrival.
    There were startling but very brief moments of drama when the two top female medalists --- Kohoutkova of The Czech Republic and and Jouravel of the Ukraine --- stumbled to the floor.
    On Monday night, after winning the gold medal, Kohoutkova slipped and fell just before a series of daredevil "fish dives" at a gala that capped six nights of competition.
    Earlier in the competition, Jouravel slid to the floor soon after beginning the wedding pas de deux from "Raymonda." But both Kohoutkova and Jouravel looked unfazed by by their slips. Without appearing to miss a beat, Kohoutkova executed a series of elegant turns ending with a lift by her partner, silver medalist Ivan Dinev and winning warm applause from the audience.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
Register