LietuviųAbout the competition
The first competition for the young soloists was founded by Prima Ballerina Egle Spokaite in 2010. During the course of the competition, two interest groups clearly emerged: young soloists and group competitors. To crystallize the essence of the vision and clarify the main goals, it was decided to focus on the young soloists – where the attention is currently lacking.
Children get seriously interested in ballet and are able to concentrate on the lessons around age 7; the opportunities for stage practice and competition are, however, sparse for this age group. In Lithuania, as well as other European countries, the competitions usually start at the age of 9 and older.
Vilnius Youth Ballet Competition is dedicated to the ballet dancers age 6-13 who aspire to reach individual heights of the ballet theory and practice. This is an excellent opportunity for the students to start taking ballet classes seriously and head for the highest levels of achievement.
Artistic Director and founder: Eglė Špokaitė
About Egle Spokaite
After graduating from the National M.K. Ciurlionis School for the arts in 1989, Egle soon became the soloist and the Prima Ballerina at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Here she created the unforgettable leading roles in classical and neoclassical performances such as Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Coppelia, Carmen, Anna Karenina, Red Giselle, and many others. She was a visiting artist at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater, National Opera of Latvia, Finland’s National ballet troupe. In 1994 through 1996 Egle Spokaite won a number of International ballet competitions in Perm (Russia), Saint Petersburg ( Russia), Maya Pliseckaya competition Maya ’94 in Saint Petersburg (Russia), Helsinki (Finland) and Nagoya (Japan). Egle was collaborating thru out her career with the ballet and art figures of the highest caliber: Ninel Kurgapkina, Kseniya Ter-Stepanova, Mstislav Rostropovich, Maja Pliseckaya, Gerald Arpino, Giorgi Aleksidze, Alexei Ratmansky, Boris Eifman, Alla Sigalova, Eva Vycichovska, Krzysztof Pastor and Gidon Kremer and many others.
Egle Spokaite has been awarded many Lithuanian prizes and awards for her contributions to the Lithuanian culture: Lithuanian National Prize, Grand Duke Gediminas order (4th degree), National Prize for the Cultural Contributions, Ministry of Culture award “Cary the light and trust”, several “Golden Stage Cross”, “Stage Beacon” award, as well as the grant of The International Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin Foundation for creation of exceptional roles on stage. In 2009 along with the business partner Kristina Sliesoraitiene established the first private Ballet school in Lithuania, which today flourishes and counts hundreds of students.
Egle now lives in San Diego (U.S.) and brings the wealth of International ballet experience back to Lithuania and the other way around. In San Diego, Egle also founded the Ballet Institute of San Diego and is currently the School’s owner and Artistic Director