Prix de Lausanne faces storm of indignation over jury make-up
The jury of Lausanne International Ballet Competition decides on the basis of technical, artistic, and physical abilities.
@gregory Batardon
Controversial comments about a perceived lack of diversity at a Swiss-based international ballet competition have caused an uproar in the ballet world.
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Born in Yokohama, Japan. I live in Switzerland since 1999. I hold a master’s degree in international relations from Geneva. I am the Head of the Japanese section of swissinfo.ch since 2016. Previously, I worked for 15 years for Asahi Shimbun at the UN in Geneva, where I closely followed multilateral and Swiss affairs.
The Instagram account of the Prix de Lausanne was flooded with critical comments about the make-up of the jury and forced the organisers to apologise and to pull the posts.
The comments “did not reflect our visions or values. We have since deleted it, and we are truly sorry,” a media representative told SWI swissinfo.ch on Wednesday.
A follower, who appeared to be non-white, had posted a comment decrying the lack of people of colour in the jury of the 50th competition of the Prix de Lausanne which ended last weekend.
The organisers appeared to justify the lack of diversity, suggesting it was mirroring the situation in the ballet world. “Statistically, ballet does not include much variety,” they said.
This triggered a flood of angry comments among the 180,000 followers of competition’s Instagram account.
Some of them pointed out fundamental issues linked to racial prejudice and discrimination in the ballet world.
The winners and the jury of the 50th Prix de Lausanne competition
Rbuas
Adapted from Japanese/urs
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