Hosted by NCPA and organized by Beijing Xiaoxing Ballet Art Development Foundation, the 4^th Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition (IBCC) will start at NCPA on August 4^th, 2017. Recently, 106 applicants have stood out to enter the semi-finals, The list of jury members for finals also came out. Apart from the competition, NCPA will hold two ballet galas.

The 4^th IBCC consists of two parts—classical ballet division and choreography division, as designed in previous three competitions. The age limit of the competition is lower than those of previous contests, providing more young dancers with a platform to display themselves. In addition, compared with previous cometitions, this year, the competition system design is also changed from work custom system into compulsory work system. Choreographers Goyo Montero, Didi Weidman and ZHANG Disha will personally arrange works for contestants to make their choices. This not only alleviates the choice pressure on contestants, but also facilitates jury members to give fair and objective professional comments.

In the 4^th IBCC, 14 guests from global dance circle will form a high-profile final jury panel. Julio Bocca (Artistic Director of Uruguay National Ballet) will serve as president of the jury for classic ballet division. Other jury members including Tamas Drich (Deputy Art Director of Stuttgart Ballet), Vivianna Durante (former star of British Royal Ballet), Kang Sue-jin (President of South Korean National Ballet), Uliana Lopakina (star of Mariinsky Ballet), Ryaboko Oleksandr (star of Hamburg Ballet), Christopher Stowell (Deputy Art Director of National Ballet of Canada), Shinobu Takita (honorary artist of Ukraine), and ZHANG Dandan (Artistic Director of Guangzhou Ballet). In terms of choreography division, Sergei Filin (former Artistic Director of Bolshoi Ballet and young choreographer and director of Bolshoi Theatre of Russia) will serve as president of the jury. Other jury members are David Bintley (Art Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet), GAO Du (Professor of Beijing Dance Academy), Marcelo Gomez (star of American Ballet Theatre) and Fang-Yi Sheu (free dance artist and choreographer from Taiwan).

Besides this competition, three well-planned opening and closing ceremonies and two ballet galas brimming with world-class ballet stars will be staged at NCPA. The galas will present performances of Semyon Chudin (principal star of Bolshoi Theatre of Russia), Adiarys Almeida (visiting principal dancer of Boston Ballet, Davide Dato (principal dancer of Vienna National Ballet Star), Maria Eichwald (principal dancer of Stuttgart Ballet), Marcelo Gomes (star of American Ballet Theatre), Arian Molina Soca (principal dancer of Cuban National Ballet), Taras Domitro Suarez (principal dancer of San Francisco Ballet), YU Xiaonan (principal dancer of National Ballet of Canada), ZHANG Zhiyao (star of American Ballet Theatre), etc.