a. The fifth edition of the Competition for Young Ballet Choreographers is organised by :
• The Malandain Ballet Biarritz acting as delegated producer and the Opéra National de Bordeaux acting as associate producer, as part of the Pôle de Coopération Chorégraphique du Grand Sud-Ouest,
• The CCN / Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin as associate producer.
b. Information about the contest is available on the website : concours-de-jeunes-choregraphes.com.
c. Participation in the contest implies full acceptance of these rules and all their articles.
d. Calendar :
• june 2025 : start of application submissions
• 30 september – 23h59 : closing date for applications
• 1er november 2025 : announcement of the six finalists
• 2 june 2026 : arrival of the finalist choreographers in Biarritz
• 3 june 2026 : Choreographers' training day
• 4 & 5 june 2026 : rehearsals and lighting adjustments on the stage of the Gare du Midi theatre in Biarritz for the choreographers and their dancers
• 6 june 2026 competition final at the Gare du Midi theatre in Biarritz
• 2026-2027 : creation and distribution residencies
a. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and/or considered to be of legal age in their country of origin. They must also be a national of a member state of the European Union or a signatory to the Schengen Convention.
b. To take part in the competition, candidates must submit an application:
- An artistic Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- One or more videos of his or her work: these must be transmitted via a URL and hosted on a video sharing and hosting site (such as Youtube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.).
- A one-page statement of intent outlining the artistic project that the candidate wishes to submit on the day of the competition.
- Any other complementary artistic element likely to enhance the candidate's choreographic work.
c. Any application submitted incomplete will be considered invalid.
d. This competition is aimed at choreographers using the language of academic dance.
a. Selection of the six finalists
The selection of the six finalists will be made on the basis of the applications by the 3 directors of the organising Ballets
b. Final :
The jury for the final will be made up of the same people as the jury that selected the six finalists, plus a number of personalities from the choreography world.
c. The jury reserves the right not to award all the prizes, or to divide them between several candidates.
d. The jury's decision regarding the winners is irrevocable and depends solely on its own will.
a. Each work presented at the competition final must be between 10 and 15 minutes long.
b. The choreography presented must feature between three and six dancers.
c. The candidate choreographer must not dance within his or her own choreography.
a. The proposed choreography must be adapted to the stage of the Gare du Midi in Biarritz;
- Stage dimensions: 12 metre frame opening and 8 metre useful height, 13 to 14 metres between the courtyard and garden pendillions, maximum depth 16 metres from the iron curtain to the last useful perch, height of the grill: 26 metres.
• Lighting: a lighting plan will be sent to the candidates selected for the final of the competition. The lighting should not exceed 10 effects.
• Music: Candidates must bring their music on a USB key WITHOUT any other files (.mp3 and .mp4 formats excluded), which must be sent one week before the final.
- Accessories are accepted provided they can be moved easily and quickly. The competition organisers reserve the right to refuse to use them if they could cause difficulties for the participants.
b. The work must be presented without scenery.
c. The organisers will provide candidates with a complete technical team.
d. The stage will be available to the candidates the day before and/or the day of the competition for a choreographic and technical preparation session.
e. The order of appearance on stage for the final will be decided by drawing lots on the day of the competition.
There will be five prizes;
Three prizes awarded by the jury
a. Creation commissions
À l’issue des épreuves, le jury désignera les lauréats qui auront l’opportunité de pouvoir créer durant la saison artistique 2026-2027 dans un des trois Ballets suivants :
- Bordeaux National Opera,
- CCN Ballet of the Opéra national du Rhin
• Ballett Schwerin
The two Grand Prix winners selected by the jury will have fifteen working days to choreograph a work lasting between 20 and 25 minutes maximum for 10 to 20 choreographers:
Each Ballet undertakes to provide :
- 10 to 20 choreographic artists, on the basis of two two-and-a-half-hour shifts per day, for a maximum of 15 working days,
- A studio of at least 140 m2,
- The staff needed to make the costumes and props and to design the lighting. The set design may not include any scenery. The technical conditions of creation will be communicated at a later date.
Each work will be presented in the city hosting the creation and, if appropriate, could be presented in the cities of the three Ballets organising the competition. The Ballets and their partners will be responsible for the set costs, negotiation of rights and promotion of the evenings. Each Ballet may decide to supplement the evening during which the prize-winner's work is performed with a programme of its choice.
Biarritz Prize
A €15,000 prize will be awarded to the candidate by the jury at the final.
Other prizes
- Professional prize / Thierry Malandain Dance Foundation - Académie des beaux-arts endowed with €5,000. This prize is awarded by all the professionals from the cultural sector present at the final and is funded by the Thierry Malandain Foundation for Dance - Académie des beaux-arts.
- Audience prize of €3,000. This prize will be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes from the audience present at the final.
The various juries will make their decisions independently and without prior consultation. In fact, it will be possible for a candidate to win several prizes.
- Pass Culture prize of €1,000. In partnership with Pass Culture, this prize is awarded by a jury of 11 young people aged 18-20.
a. The organisers cannot be held responsible for any physical or material damage caused by a candidate to himself or herself or to another participant in the competition.
b. The organisers cannot be held responsible if, due to force majeure or events beyond their control, the competition has to be cancelled, extended, modified or postponed.
c. The organisers cannot be held responsible for any loss or theft.
a. The six pre-selected candidates agree to transfer their image rights to the competition organisers as part of their participation in the competition.
b. Exclusive transfer of exploitation rights (including arrangements by extract or otherwise) and therefore of performance, communication, broadcasting, publishing and marketing rights.
c. The rights thus assigned also include the right to broadcast the works submitted for the competition, in full or partial versions, and to make any separate use of the sound and image, transformations, adaptations, arrangements, cuts, edits, appearance of the broadcaster's logo necessary for the broadcast or exploitation of the video for promotional and archiving purposes and also in the context of filming for subsequent exploitation.
d. During the final, on 6 June 2026, only those persons who have received authorisation from the line producer will be able to take photographs or make video recordings of the candidates' works.
a. The organisers undertake to cover the technical costs (excluding costumes and props) for the performance of the candidates' works on Saturday 6 June 2026 at the Gare du Midi in Biarritz, as well as for the on-stage rehearsal planned beforehand.
b. Thanks to the support of the Fondation pour la Danse Thierry Malandain - Académie des Beaux-Arts, the six finalists will receive a lump-sum payment for each member of their team, up to a maximum of eight people over four and a half days in Biarritz as follows:
- 42 per day per person per diem
- Accommodation: paid for by the organiser
- France travel package: €400 per person (return transfer included)
- International travel package: €600 per person (return transfer included)
Article 10 - Acceptance of the rules.
Registration for the competition implies acceptance of the rules. Failure to comply with these rules will result in immediate disqualification.
