“Benois de la Dance” is the Oscar of the ballet world. Founded by the International Dance association 15 years ago, it has quickly gained recognition. The jury has been presided over by Russian choreographer, Yury Grigorovich.

Other jury members, though, change from year to year. Before selecting the nominees, the jury members looks through dozens of videotapes. Most of the nominees belong to classical ballet schools, but followers of contemporary dance are becoming more numerous.

"We present here all trends and all styles – absolutely everything which nowadays is interesting to the public,'' explains Yury Grigorovich.

Having taken part in a number of gala performances as a ballet dancer, Russian star Nikolay Tsiskaridze is a jury member at this year’s competition. The dancer believes there are only three classical ballet schools in the world – the Mariinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi and the Paris Opera.

“It's harder to perform classical ballet dance, that's why it's getting less popular among dancers,” says Nikolay Tsiskaridze.

Among the international jury members there is Gregor Zeifert, a ballet star from Germany. Already a Benois de la Dance award winner, this year he is promoting other dancers from his homeland.