(Photo Credit: 2018 Elisa Carrillo and Friends Stars Gala)
First Mexican To Receive Benois de la Danse Prize
Her hard work and talent finally paid off and now she has been recognized for her achievements.
Mexican dancer Elisa Carrillo has officially joined the most exclusive club of dancers in the world when she received the Benois de la Danse prize, which has been dubbed the Nobel Prize of dance. Carrillo was awarded for her performance last year as Juliet in Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which was choreographed by John Cranko.
Upon receiving her prize, Carrillo thanked her family and dedicated her prize to the Mexican people.
The Benois de la Danse is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions and was founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991.
Carrillo was born in Texcoco, a municipality located in Mexico, in 1981, and from a young age, she showed talent for dancing.
At 14 years old, she was accepted into the English National Ballet School, and since 2011, she has been the lead female dancer at the Berlin State Ballet. Carrillo is the second Mexican dancer to be awarded the Benois, after Guadalajara-born Isaac Hernández, who was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize last year.
Other awards that are noteworthy on Carrillo’s resume are the Soul of Dance prize and the top prize at the International Dance Festival in St. Petersburg.
But going beyond the stage, Carrillo has been using her prominence to promote classical dance education in Mexico. Last year, she partnered with the government of Mexico to create the Elisa Carrillo scholarship, a program aimed at supporting young dancers from the state.
By: Maytinee Kramer
