Foundation Heinz Spoerli awards Prize to Amanda Bennett

For her outstanding achievement as Director of the Ballettschule Theater Basel, Amanda Bennett received the Foundation Heinz Spoerli Prize. The Prize is endowed with 20,000 Swiss Francs.

„Amanda Bennett has developed the Ballettschule Theater Basel into an internationally recognized school for classical ballet. This outstanding achievement deserves public recognition,“ said the choreographer and former Zürich Ballet Director Heinz Spoerli. The Foundation Heinz Spoerli was founded 14 years ago and the Prize is being awarded for the fifth time. With this Prize the Foundation wishes to make a contribution to the preservation of the art form of dance as well as the promotion of the public interest in dance.

The native Texan, Amanda Bennett, has spent the majority of her career in Switzerland. After training at the School of American Ballet in New York, she began her first engagement with the Ballet du Grand Théatre de Genève. She preformed to great aclaim for 11 years as Principal dancer with the Basler Ballett under the direction of Heinz Spoerli. Amanda Bennett has directed the Ballettschule Theater Basel since 2001. Through her success, the school is now internationally recognized as an important center for the training of classical ballet and draws students from all over the world. In 2012 Amanda Bennett was named Artistic Director of the Prix de Lausanne.

The prize giving ceremony took place in the Basel Theater on the 14th of June 2015 at the end of the Ballettschule Summer Gala.

The Prize Winners to date are:

2003 Martin Schläpfer, Choreographer and Director Ballett am Rhein Dusseldorf – Düisburg

2004 The Jikeleza Dance Project, Johannisburg

2008 Polina Semionova, Primaballerina Berlin,
Arman Grigoryan, Solist Deutsche Oper Berlin

2013 Zimmermann & de Perrot, Zürich

2015 Amanda Bennett, Ballettschule Theater Basel Director, Prix de Lausanne Artistic Director