Candice Adea wins Ballet’s Top Prize at Helsinki Competition
Posted on June 25th, 2012 under We are Pinoys!
Candice and Jean Marc in Don Quixote. [By Sakari Viika]
Candice Adea, Ballet Philippines’ principal dancer, won First Prize, Senior Women’s Division at the recently concluded Helsinki International Ballet Competition, one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. The competition drew 69 dancers from 28 countries, including USA, China, Japan, Finland, Canada, Italy and Cuba, among others.
Her partner, Jean Marc Cordero, also a principal dancer of Ballet Philippines, was a semi-finalist. He won a Special Jury Award for Best in Pas de Deux Technique (partnering).
Adea’s win caps her illustrious career—in 2010 she won the Silver Medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MI, touted as the Olympics of ballet. In 2011, she won special awards at the Boston International Ballet Competition (the Maris Liepa Award for Artistry) and the Third Prize at the Seoul International Dance Competition. With Cordero, she also won the Lead Role in a Russian Ballet Performance in Boston.
Adea is the most successful Filipina in international ballet competitions, with the most wins and special prizes. She is the first Filipino to be awarded First Prize in a top tier international ballet competition (composed of competitions in Varna, Bulgaria; Jackson, MI, USA; and Moscow, Russia), and joins the list of Filipino ballet dancers who have received international recognition.
As in all their previous competitions, Victor Ursabia, Ballet Philippines’ ballet master and CCP Dance School Director, stood as the pair’s coach and mentor.
In the finals, Adea performed Diana and Acteon pas de deux with Cordero for classical and Aku (choreographed by Alden Lugnasin) in contemporary. She was a crowd favorite early on, with bloggers raving about her performances.
The blog “Pointe Til You Drop” says, “Magical was no other than my early favorite, Candice Adea. Again. She danced her Diana and Actéon variation with such technical purity, exquisite expression and warmth. I think most of the audience has already fallen in love with her! Adea and her now non-competing partner had also one of the scariest over-head lifts, which had one of my back-stage friends praying for their safety! If Ms. Adea doesn’t place high, I should be very surprised.”
The competition’s prizes amount to over 55,000 euros. In addition, the judges may grant one or more choreography prizes, worth a total of 6,000 euros. The jury may also at their discretion award prizes not mentioned in the competition rules.
The Helsinki International Ballet Competition belongs to the cycle of International Ballet Competitions held under the auspices of the Federation of International Ballet Competitions (FIBC) in Jackson, MI (USA), Moscow, Russia, and Varna, Bulgaria.
The Competition is organized by the Helsinki International Ballet Competition Association in cooperation with the Finnish National Opera. The Competition is held at the Opera House in Helsinki, Finland.
Adea and Cordero’s next performance in the Philippines will be in Ballet Philippines’ Crisostomo Ibarra, where they will reprise their critically acclaimed roles at the last performance with live music, on June 24, 2 pm at the CCP Little Theater. They will also perform in Songson July 6-8 at the CCP Main Theater, where they will premiere a pas de deux by Augustus Damian III.