THE USA IBC HISTORY TOUR
2006
June 17- July 2

The 2006 competition began with a high-energy performance by Ballet Hispanico, one of America’s foremost dance interpreters of Hispanic culture. Guest artists included Joseph Phillips, Adrienne Canterna, Danny Tidwell and Rolando Sarabia. Paul Terlizzi, COO of Capezio Ballet Makers, Inc., was selected as the national honorary chairman of the competition, and First Lady Marsha Barbour served as the event’s Mississippi Ambassador. The competitor selection committee, which chose competitors from a historically high pool of applicants, included Anna-Marie Holmes, Dennis Nahat and Janie Parker. From approximately 300 applications, the selection committee tapped 121 dancers from 27 countries to compete in Jackson. Christopher Fleming, Janie Parker and Wes Chapman served as competitor evaluators during the competition.

For the 2006 event, the USA IBC displayed work from a talented variety of artists in its lobby displays, including bronze sculptures by Susanne Vertel, metal pieces by Gary Martin and organic wood figures by Robert Crowell. The official USA IBC poster in 2006 was based on “Reflections,” an original oil painting by Jackson artist P. Sanders McNeal. Garth Fagan Dance, founded and led by the choreographer of Disney’s Broadway show “The Lion King,” performed to a packed house on the evening of June 22, and the company also conducted a lecture-demonstration and a master class during their two-day residency.

The competition’s companion International Dance School enrolled a record number of students in 2006, all of whom studied with master teachers during the day and attended exciting competition performances in the evenings. Ancillary events included a lecture on the careful construction of tutus and a screening of the controversial documentary “Ballets Russes.”

For the first time, the USA IBC featured competitors eliminated during Round I in performance. A new event, titled the Edward Stierle Contemporary Showcase, allowed these competitors to present contemporary works they had prepared for later rounds of the competition. The performance, named in honor of Joffrey dancer and 1986 IBC medalist Edward Stierle, was presented at the Belhaven Center for the Arts.

In 2006, the USA IBC lit its official torch from a new flame. The flame, which is always ignited outside Thalia Mara Hall at the start of the two-week competition, was donated to the organization by Richard and Sandra Carlino on behalf of Regional Dance America. The seven-foot-tall structure, topped with a luminous metallic bowl, was given in honor of Luis Fuente. Fuente, who choreographed one of the pieces presented at the Regional Dance America performance in 2006, appeared on the 1982 IBC commemorative poster.

View a list of 2006 medalists
View a list of 2006 jurors
View a list of 2006 IDS faculty