Pina Bausch, the longtime director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, won a tribute award for her entire oeuvre.
The awards, presented biennially by the Monaco Dance Forum since 2000, are based on nominations by dancers, choreographers, dance critics, presenters, and other dance insiders. The public was also allowed to nominate dancers and choreographers on the Monaco Dance Forum's web site.
Charlotte Rampling served as mistress of ceremonies for the awards program, which included a tribute to George Balanchine and Suzanne Farrell by artist and choreographer Richard Move and a preview of a new work by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, winner of the 2002 emerging choreographer award. The set design was by Karl Lagerfeld.
The nominees for female dancer also included Aur_lie Dupont and Marie-Agns Gillot of le Ballet de l'Op_ra National de Paris, Tamara Rojo of the Royal Ballet, and Svetlana Zakharova of the Bolshoi Ballet.
Carlos Acosta of the Royal Ballet, Angel Corella and Jos_ Manuel Carreê±o of American Ballet Theatre, and Jos_ Martinez of le Ballet de l'Op_ra National de Paris were nominated in the male dancer category.
Previous winners of the Nijinsky Awards include Maneul Legris, Vladmir Malakhov, Sylvie Guillem, Lucia Lacarra, Jir‹ Kylišn, and Jean-Christophe Maillot.
The winners receive statues modeled after Rodin's sculpture of Nijinsky in L'Aprs-midi d'un faun. The winner of the emerging-choreographer award receives 35,000 euros toward the production of a new work.
