VKIBC History
The Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition was born from a desire to give young dancers a platform to compete in a fair, unpolitical forum. VKIBC has quickly gained an international reputation for its fair scoring. Judges' scores are based exclusively on the abilities of the dancer and are not influenced by status of school, coach or teacher. Dancers ranging from age 9 in the Youth Division, through professionals to the age of 26 in the Senior Division assemble for several days of competition. Dancers are scored meticulously by an esteemed panel of judges, all extremely qualified and reputable in their fields of expertise.
Valentina Kozlova has vast experience as a competitor, renowned coach and international judge. She understands the conflicts and demands put before both judge and dancer. Because of this VKIBC strives to insure every competitor is scored fairly on technique, artistic interpretation and musicality. During the week of competition in New York City participants are offered a chance to take master classes and audition for scholarships.
On average, dancers from over 25 countries enter every year. Participation at VIKBC helps these young competitors in a myriad of ways, from learning more about how various classical variations are performed to winning a scholarship or contract, gaining more exposure, or simply see how they compare to their peers. Competitors are able to achieve these and many other goals during the week of professional, supportive and exciting competition.
VKIBC premiered as the Boston International Ballet Competition (BIBC) in 2011 at The John Hancock Hall. In 2013 the competition moved to New York City. The next year VKIBC added one day of competition exclusively for Contemporary dancers and Choreographers, fulfilling its mission of “Preserving the Past, Discovering the Future.”
VKIBC semi-finals have been held in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2015, Brussels, Belgium in 2015, Posadas, Argentina in 2015 and 2016, Brazil and Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2017 and Brazil again in 2018, 2019 and 2022. VKIBC semi-finals were also held in Mexico in 2019 and 2020, Paraguay 2018 and 2019 and Argentina in 2019. In 2023, Semi Finals were held in Brazil, Paraguay, England and Poland.
VKIBC’s 10th edition should have taken place March 15th - 20th 2020. Due to covid-19 pandemic, the finals were canceled.
The next edition took place live, online, March 8-15, 2021. it was the first time ever, worldwide, that a dance competition was held online in a live way. VKIBC went to Symphony Space Theater in New York for the 2022 edition.
The 2023 edition took place place April 17-21 at The Kaye Playhouse in Manhattan.
After the first ever online competition live, worldwide, in 2021, always innovating in order to feature and promote dancers’ talent, the 2024 VKIBC Finals, taking place at The Kaye Playhouse in Manhattan April 8-12, will offer a new competition, FreeStyle Dance, in addition to Classical and Contemporary/NeoClassical. More information on the Home page.
In a few years, participants from VKIBC have gone on to have wonderful careers in major companies all over the world. We are thrilled to play a small role encouraging them.