2025 Partners and Projects
SUPPORTING TALENT
Junior Ballet of the Opéra national de Paris
True to its mission of supporting the next generation of talent as well as preserving and passing on the artistic legacy of Rudolf Nureyev, the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is pleased to announce a three-year partnership to support the Junior Ballet of the Opéra national de Paris.
Created in September 2024, the Junior Ballet brings together 18 young dancers aged 17 to 23 and is open to artists from all backgrounds, as well as students of the Paris Opera Ballet School. Under the direction of José Martinez, Director of Dance at the Opéra national de Paris, dancers of the Junior Ballet deepen their mastery of the classical and contemporary repertoire of the Opéra national de Paris and gain stage experience in the context of resident performances and tours.
Rudolf Nureyev’s artistic legacy and repertoire is fully integrated into the Junior Ballet programme, and the Foundation’s support will enable its transmission to this next generation of talent.
Creation of the Paris Opera Junior Ballet – Ballet – Artists – Opéra national de Paris
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Schools’ Partnership Programme
Launching in autumn 2025, this innovative three-year partnership will bring together six prestigious professional international ballet schools:
- Ballet School of the Opéra national de Paris
- Canada’s National Ballet School
- Royal Ballet School
- Royal Danish Ballet School
- The Australian National Ballet School
- San Francisco Ballet School
Each of these schools is affiliated with a company that has a historic association with Rudolf Nureyev. This embedded legacy will enable access to a wealth of archive material, oral history, and artists, teaching and coaching staff with living memory of Nureyev in rehearsal and on stage.
The programme will include:
- Financial support to students nominated by their school.
- Integrated coaching sessions in Nureyev’s repertoire, technique, and style, offering extraordinary student learning while building a library of content for schools across the partnership and beyond.
- Dance history programmes that bring Nureyev’s impact and legacy to life for a new generation.
By investing in student support and shared programmes of coaching and dance history across the network of partners, the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Schools’ Partnership Programme will honour and celebrate Nureyev’s distinctive role and legacy in both local and and international dance history.
Prix de Lausanne 2025
The Prix de Lausanne, created in 1973, is an international ballet competition for young dancers aged between 15 and 18 years. It aims to discover, promote, and support the finest talent from around the world by awarding annual scholarships for training in the best ballet schools and companies.
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is pleased to support the 2025 edition of the Prix de Lausanne and the Best Young Talent Award, which is given by the jury to a finalist that demonstrates exceptional artistry.
Prize Winners 2025 – Prix de Lausanne
Concours Rudolf Nureyev 2025
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is pleased to support the 2025 edition of the Concours Rudolf Nureyev in Rimini, Italy. Open to dancers from around the world, the competition supports the career development of talented young artists and honours Nureyev’s legacy through the teaching of his repertoire by dancers who worked directly with him.
Concours Rudolf Noureev concorso in collaborazione Rimini e Teatro Galli
PERPETUATING NUREYEV’S LEGACY
New York Public Library: Digitisation Programme
Compiled by Wallace Potts – filmmaker and close friend of Nureyev – from sources around the world, The Rudolf Nureyev Collection is a comprehensive collection of film and video donated to the New York Public Library by the Foundation in 1999.
The Collection ranges from broadcast quality professional recordings of entire ballets, through interviews and rehearsal footage, to home movies and never-before-seen camera rushes.
The Foundation is pleased to announce a three-year programme with the Performing Arts Dance Research Department of the New York Public Library to expedite digitisation of legacy format audiovisual recordings of Nureyev held within the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Collection at the Library.
Search the NYPL research catalog for materials related to Rudolf Nureyev.
From Paris to Copenhagen: The Pas de la Vestale, emblem of a forgotten choreographic style
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is pleased to support this research project – hosted by the CNSMD Lyon – which aims to create a full reconstruction of the Pas de la Vestale, choreographed at the Paris Opéra in 1807 by Pierre Gardel (1758-1840).
While Auguste Bournonville’s 1835 version of the pas de deux lives on, Gardel’s choreography – considered in the past as a choreographic jewel representative of the ‘noble style’ – survives only in a transcription written by the dance master Michel St. Léon.
During his years as director of the Paris Opéra Rudolf Nureyev encouraged not only innovative modern choreographers, but also the reconstruction of works of historical interest, evoking the cultural roots of ballet tradition. In 1986, Nureyev asked Ivo Cramér to remount La Dansomanie by the same Pierre Gardel (the only attempt to reconstruct a ballet by this prolific choreographer).
Echoing Nureyev’s spirit and intent, Natalie van Parys, Pierre Darde, and Bruno Ligore will combine their strengths as choreographers, teachers, and researchers to retrace the connections between baroque dance of the eighteenth century and the classical dance of the early nineteenth century. The project will produce a visual record of Gardel’s and Bournonville’s versions of this highly challenging pas de deux alongside pedagogical workshops, live performances, and conferences, promoting talented young dancers and reviving this important piece of dance history.
ADVANCING THE HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SAFEGUARDING OF DANCERS
The IADMS Bulletin for Dancers and Teachers
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation has been a longstanding supporter of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), a global network of medical professionals, educators, dancers, and researchers dedicated to enhancing health and wellbeing in dance.
Over the next three years, the Foundation’s continued support will fund the IADMS Bulletin for Danseurs and Teachers—a vital, open-access, biannual publication.
The Bulletin translates peer-reviewed scientific research into accessible, practitioner-oriented articles for dancers, educators, parents, and others invested in dancer health and safety.
Drawing on leading academic sources, including the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, the Bulletin bridges the gap between research and real-world application. Each themed issue offers evidence-based strategies to support dance training and education, with a focus on injury prevention, psychological wellbeing, and performance enhancement.
By equipping the dance community with clear, relevant, and actionable insights, the Bulletin directly advances the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation’s mission to promote health, wellbeing, and safeguarding for dancers worldwide.
International Alliance of Professional Dance Schools
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation is proud to support the International Alliance of Professional Dance Schools (IAPDS) in building and launching a dedicated website designed to foster global collaboration in vocational dance education.
The IAPDS is a growing network of 30 international dance schools committed to advancing best practices in dancer training, balancing technical excellence, health, well-being, and inclusive studio culture.
With the Foundation’s support, the new platform will introduce the Alliance’s mission and values to a broader audience while providing endorsing schools with exclusive access to curated resources, evidence-based guidance, and communication tools. It will serve as a hub for community-building, knowledge exchange, and innovation in the professional dance education sector.
As the Alliance continues to expand, the IAPDS looks forward to welcoming new endorsing schools into its global network, strengthening its collective voice and impact.
Dancers’ Career Development
Dancers’ Career Development (DCD) is a UK-based national charity supporting dancers who are working, or who have worked, in the UK. DCD’s principal activity is the delivery of services to professional dancers to support their career progression, during and beyond their performance careers. The charity focuses on the professional and personal development of dancers, equipping them with skills, knowledge, and opportunities to realise their individual potential and career aspirations in and beyond dance.
The Foundation’s partnership with DCD will enable delivery of three ‘Rudolf Nureyev’ bursaries, funding retraining costs and providing holistic support as the recipients transition to their future careers.
