It's a great day in Switzerland for Houston Ballet

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Photo by Jean-Bernard Sieber

Emanuel Amuchastegui also won the audience favorite award at the prestigious international competition for dancers between 15-18.

Houston Ballet student Christian-Emanuel Amuchastegui has won the Prix du Lausanne, marking the first time in Houston Ballet's history a student has taken home the top honors in the prestigious international competition.

And that's not all. Amuchastegui, 18, also won the "audience favorite" award.

Wait, there's more. Houston Ballet students Aaron Sharratt placed fifth and Xiang Liao made the top 20.

Amuchastegui, a native of Argentina, wowed the judges with his jumping and serious air-time in a variation from August Bournonville's La Sylphide and an excerpt from Cathy Marston's The Tempest. The young dancer's long lines and perfect-for-ballet feet, give him an onstage elegance.

"Not only is Christian-Emanuel an outstanding dancer, but he is very generous personally. He impressed us during the week with his constant good humor, his kindness to others, coupled with his remarkable ability to focus on his goal and take advice from the Prix's teachers and coaches," said Patricia Leroy, Secretary General of the Prix. "We look forward to witnessing how his career develops."

Houston Ballet associate director Shelly Power credited Houston Ballet II ballet master Claudio Munoz, along with the help of Sabrina Lenzi and Andrew Murphy for the stellar showing. Power and Munoz were in Lausanne for the competition, along with Amuchastegui's father, Gustavo Adolfo Amuchastegui.

"It was so gratifying to watch Emanuel take the top prize, taking his father's hand and leading him to the stage and watching their embrace," Power said. "His father had not seen him dance in two years."

Sharratt danced solos from The Sleeping Beauty and Christopher Wheeldon's Commedia and Liao also danced an excerpt from The Sleeping Beauty and Marston's Traces.

The Swiss ballet competition for students between 15-18 is largely considered one of the best career jump starters in the ballet world. Winning, placing and making the finals opens doors to a professional career in a major company. It's a unique situation in that the dancers are observed in ballet and contemporary classes and in both a contemporary and classical piece. It's not just about flashy technique. judges are looking for intelligent dancers who take correction well, are willing to learn and excel in their artistry.

Reprinted from Culturemap

A Cautionary Tale

As seen in Dance Teacher Magazine.


Mary Six Rupert remembers the exact day when demonstrating pullbacks in her tap class didn’t quite feel right. The former Rockette

Mary Six Rupert remembers the exact day when demonstrating pullbacks in her tap class didn’t quite feel right. The former Rockette then noticed that walking up the subway stairs caused sharp pain in her knees. In the beginning the pain only occurred during activity, but it soon became so constant that she needed a demonstrator for class. “Six shows a day seven days a week with high heels and high kicking will take a toll on anyone’s knees,” says Rupert, referring to her 13-year stint in the famous Radio City kick line. In her 50s, she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees—an arthritic condition common among dancers where the protective cartilage at the ends of bones gradually deteriorates and the knee loses shock absorption. In extreme cases, bones can rub against each other.

“Think of the treads on a tire—eventually they just wear out. And all the jumping and landing dancers do puts them at greater risk for knee injuries,” says Patrick McCulloch, an orthopedic surgeon at Houston’s Methodist Center for Sports Medicine and consultant for the Center for Performing Arts Medicine. But good news: Proper training and awareness can help your students protect their knees.

Preventive Measures
Marijeanne Liederbach, director of research and education at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries in New York, advises teachers to educate dancers on knee-health maintenance. “This means good solid nutrition, taking part in some form of supplemental training, having a strong core and taking care of the neighboring joints, like the hip and ankle,” she says. “Pay attention to fatigue as well, as we know from research that most knee injuries occur during extreme fatigue.” Basic bone health also includes encouraging students not to smoke and to intake enough calories for proper hormone balance.

Your job as a dance teacher is to build and strengthen students’ stamina to endure tough physical technique, says Liederbach, who recently studied the number of jumps dancers do in a typical class—about 200. She also encourages training dancers to see the knee in a broader sense. “From a biomechanical point of view, the knee is the largest joint in the body, located between two of the largest bones,” she says. “Because of this, the knee can fall victim to ankle and hip problems.”

The first step to knee protection, according to Houston-based physical therapist and former dancer Jennifer Romanek, is making sure students execute proper turnout (which involves the ankle and hip). “When you force a turnout from the feet, it puts a tremendous torque on the knees, which can wear down cartilage,” she says. “Don’t push a turnout past the external range of motion that the hip allows.”

Cross-training can help build knee-supporting muscles—as important for teachers as for their students. “Go to the gym and do other types of movement besides dance classes,” Romanek says. “Even if you are just teaching, you need to remember that you are demonstrating all day, which can take a toll on your knees.” She recommends Pilates exercises on the reformer to loosen the iliotibial (IT) band—thick fibrous tissue that runs from the pelvis to the lower leg bone—and quadriceps, which are crucial for knee stability. “A tight IT band and quads will pull excessively on the knee,” she says. “Dancers need long and lean muscles.”

Click here to learn exercises to help release and stretch tight IT bands and quads

Early Warning
Knee pain that feels completely different from the average ache and pain is often the first sign of trouble, says Rupert. Tell students to be on the lookout for joint swelling or catching, and grinding sensations as well. McCulloch, who has diagnosed and treated many Houston Ballet dancers, recommends that dancers (when experiencing unusual, lingering knee pain) first see a doctor to check for any damage. “With an X-ray we can see the spaces between the bones,” he says. “Although cartilage will not show up on an X-ray, we can see the narrowing of that space. An MRI will show the condition and possible loss of the cartilage.”

While Rupert managed to finish her professional performance career relatively injury-free before developing osteoarthritis after age 50, McCullough says he has seen the condition in dancers as young as 20 and 30. If injuries aren’t taken care of at a young age, further damage can occur that might ultimately lead to knee replacement. As Rupert says, “Dancers need to get over working through the pain. The sooner you find out what’s going on, the more options you have.”