USA International Ballet Competition
In 1982, the United States Congress passed a Joint resolution designating Jackson, Mississippi, as the official home of the USA International Ballet Competition.
The competition eventually expanded to rotating annual events in Varna, Moscow and Tokyo.
After a distinguished career as a teacher in New York City, Thalia Mara moved to Jackson, Mississippi, to start a new professional company.
In the late 1970s a group in New York City was looking for a site to hold an international competition in the United States.
Thalia Mara successfully lobbied for Jackson as the site because it would give the competitors a taste of Middle America and it would help build interest in the ballet for her struggling new company.
Participants were invited to remain after elimination and encouraged to dance in a special performance at the awards gala.
[2] In 1994 the performance hall in Jackson, Mississippi where the USA IBC is held was renamed in honor of Thalia Mara.
[7] Accepted competitors are provided a list of classical pieces from which to select their competition performances.
Competition is for a gold, silver, and bronze medals for men and women in each of the age categories.
[9] In the first round each competitor must perform one classical pax de deux or two short solos.
[10] Jurors score each dancer individually based on artistry, technical skill and musicality.
[9] The USA IBC has accelerated the careers of many dancers including Jose Manuel Carreño (1990), Nina Ananiashvili (1986), Vadim Pisarev (1986), Andris Liepa (1986), Daniel Meja (1986), Rasta Thomas (1998), Vladimir Malakhov (1990), Irina Dvorovenko (1990), Brooklyn Mack 2006, Daniil Simkin (2006), Misa Kuranaga (2006), Sara Webb (2002), Katia Carranza (2002), Anna Antonicheva (1998), Yury & Zenaida Yanowsky (1994), Johan Kobborg (1994), April & Simon Ball (1994), Luis Serrano (1998), Dai Sasaki (1994), Edward Stierle (1986), Li Cunxin (1982) and Katherine Healy (1982).
[1] Jury members have included Robert Joffrey, Yuri Grigorovich, Bruce Marks, Sophia Golovkina, Alexander Grant, Vera Kirova, Ivan Nagy, Laura Alonso, Vladimir Vasiliev, Yvette Chauvrire and Nina Novak.
[1] Li Cunxin (senior men's silver medal in 1982) wrote a memoir Mao's Last Dancer[11] that was a best seller in Australia and the United Kingdom.
It includes his account of the competition in Jackson where he was not allowed to compete as a Chinese citizen because of his recent defection to the US.
Notable sisters have also passed through the IBC including Jennifer and Lauren Gelfand (U.S., 1986 and 1990 respectively) and Adrienne and Ashley Canterna (USA, 1998 and 2002).
Back row left to right: Paulina Guraieb Abella, Yasmin Lomondo, Gustavo Carvalho, Yui Shi, Aaron Smyth, Tamako Miyazaki, Gisele Bethea, Irina Sapozhnikova, Mackenzie Richter, Shiori Kase, Ga-Yeon Jung.
The USA IBC returned to Jackson, Mississippi for the eighth time from June 17 to July 2, 2006.
Left to right: Yudai Fukuoka, Japan, Bronze; Sarah Kathryn Lane (light blue shirt), USA, Jr Silver; Katia Carranza (dark blue shirt), Mexico, Bronze; unidentified female (back); Wu Haiyan (white shirt), China, Gold; unidentified male (black shirt); unidentified male (back); Sarah Lamb, USA, Silver; Danny Tidwell, USA, Jr, Silver; Joseph Phillips, Jr Gold; Mikhail Ilyin, Russa, Bronze.
