Press Release

For Immediate Release: August 23, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S AARON SMYTH WINS GOLD AT GENÉE INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION IN TORONTO

CANADIANS WIN SILVER AND BRONZE

Toronto, ON: Australian Aaron Smyth won Gold and CDN $11,000 at the GENÉE INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION in Toronto on Saturday, August 23 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. In addition, Mr. Smyth, 17, also won the Bravo!
Audience Choice Award.

The flagship event of London's Royal Academy of Dance and one of the world's most prestigious events, the GENÉE INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION attracts many of the world's most brilliant and promising young dancers.

"The Gold medal is only awarded when a candidate demonstrates exceptional technical skills, an innate response to music, outstanding performance qualities and charisma," said Dame Antoinette Sibley, DBE, President of the Royal Academy of Dance who is presenting the Genée International Ballet Competition for the first time in North America.

Additional medals awarded on Saturday night included:

Males
Yuma Kozuki from Japan and Hong Tao Lin from China were awarded Silver medals and share CDN $6,600. No bronze medals were awarded.

Females
Chelsea Andrejic from Australia and Nicole Ciapponi from Canada (Surrey, BC) were awarded Silver medals and share CDN $6,600.

Ya Xuan Xu from China and Alexandra Bertram from Canada (Calgary, AB) were awarded Bronze medals and share and CDN $4,400.

In addition to Dame Antoinette, the judges for the competition were Karen Kain, Artistic Director, the National Ballet of Canada; Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago and Rex Harrington, Artist-in-Residence, The National Ballet of Canada.

Two inaugural awards were presented on stage at the Four Seasons Centre in honor of the Competitions North American debut:

The Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Award for Theatricality
The inaugural The Theatricality Award is awarded to the candidate showing the most 'theatricality' in performing Canadian choreographer Sabrina Matthews' commissioned piece. This is a unique award because it is open to all candidates, not just the Finalists. Sabrina Matthews chose the recipient who receives a CDN $1,000 bursary.

The winner of the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Award for Theatricality is Canada's Nicole Ciapponi.

Bravo! Audience Choice Award

The Bravo! Audience Choice Award offered an exciting opportunity for the audience to take matters into their own hands and choose their favorite dancer. Votes for The Bravo! Audience Choice Award were counted during the 2nd interval, and the award was announced at the same time as the other medals at the end of the competition / performance.

Bravo! is an oasis in the television landscape where viewers make a regular appointment with the arts (www.bravo.ca). Bravo! is owned by CTV Limited, a division of CTVglobemedia, Canada's premier multi-media company.

The Genée International Ballet Competition is dedicated to promoting and rewarding standards of excellence in ballet dancers internationally. This is achieved by offering aspiring dancers the unique opportunity to work with world-renowned choreographers and professionals as well as the chance to perform on an international stage.

With over 13,000 members' spread across 79 countries, The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is one of the largest and most influential dance education and training organisations in the world. The Academy's patron is HM Queen Elizabeth II. RAD Membership supports the advancement of dance and includes professional dancers, students, teachers, benefactors and
friends.

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