Prix Jury 2023

Atte Kilpinen is a dance artist from Turku. Kilpinen joined the Finnish National Ballet after graduating in 2015, where he has also worked as a choreographer's assistant in addition to dancing soloist roles. From 2020 to 2022, Kilpinen danced with the Hamburg State Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer by John Neumeier in 2021. In addition to Neumeier, Kilpinen has danced in the works of numerous well-known choreographers, including Carolyn Carlson, Alexander Ekman, Marco Goecke, Kenneth Greve, Marjo Kuusela, Jirí Kylián, Tero Saarinen and Jorma Uotinen. He has also danced with various groups and theatres, such as Susanna Leinonen Company, Pori Dance Company, Jojo - Oulu Dance Centre and Turku City Theatre, Tero Saarinen Company.

In 2019 Kilpinen received the Outi and Jan Vapaavuori Foundation's Award. In April 2020, Kilpinen's choreography premiered at Musiikkitalo, accompanied by the Radio Symphony Orchestra, interpreting Sergei Prokofiev's chamber music Quintet Op. 39.The solo work was broadcast on YLE later that year. In December 2020, the President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, invited Kilpinen to perform his interpretation of Finlandia at the Independence Day reception. In 2022, Kilpinen danced Tero Saarinen's iconic HUNT solo piece.

Kilpinen will be seen in October 2023 at the Dance House in Susanna Leinonen's company's Suo tihkua vihreä tammi. In March 2024, Kilpinen will premiere his own choreography at the Helsinki Music Centre with the Radio Symphony Orchestra. Kilpinen dances currently as a first soloist with the Finnish National Ballet.

Tiina Myllymäki is originally from Helsinki and trained from 1992 to 2003 at the Helsinki Dance Academy, studying a wide range of dance styles from ballet to jazz and afro-dance, and from tap and character dance to flamenco. During her studies, Tiina performed extensively and participated in multiple competitions, including the Mora Nordic Ballet Competition, the famous Prix de Lausanne competition, the Helsinki International Ballet Competition and the Eurovision Young Dancers Competition, where Tiina won in 2003 and represented Finland in the final competition in Amsterdam. In the same year she joined the Finnish National Ballet, where she has danced extensively in works by numerous well-known choreographers, including John Cranko, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Sylvie Guillem, Kenneth Greve, Akram Khan, Jiří Kylián, Jorma Uotinen and John Neumier. 

Tiina's repertoire includes principal roles in numerous ballets including Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, The Pirate of the Sea, Onegin and Manon. He enjoys great emotions and striving to be the best he can be. 

Tiina Myllymäki was awarded the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Edvard Fazer Prize in 2012 and was named a principal dancer in 2015. Tiina has also been a judge in many competitions and hopes to see the dancers' true self on stage. In addition to natural dance technique, Tiina holds expression as an extremely important part of dance artistry.

Annamari Keskinen is a performer, choreographer and founding member of the dance group Thar Be Dragons. For the last 19 years, she has worked internationally and extensively in the field of dance. In addition to her own choreographic work, his group Thar Be Dragons has made dozens of productions, from site-specific performances to small and large stage works.

Vivianne Budsko-Lommi

Vivianne Budsko-Lommi has been the principal of Tamara Rasmussen Opisto, which celebrates its 60th anniversary, since 1992, leading the country's oldest private dance school to recognition and acclaim. Under her leadership, countless young people over the decades have gone on to become professional dance students and continue to become leading dance artists and pedagogues at home and abroad. Her teaching subjects include contemporary dance, classical ballet, modern jazz dance, improvisation, body care/Fusion Training and DanceArtFun (a set of different dance disciplines developed by VBL).

Budsko-Lommi has worked as a professional dancer and choreographer since the 1970s in Finland and abroad. She has been the artistic director of Dance Theatre Jazz-Point since 1992.

Budsko-Lommi has worked as a dance teacher in Finland: e.g. Theatre Academy, Helsinki City Theatre Dance Group, Kuopio Dance Festival, founder of Karjaa Dance School, Turku Art and Communication Institute, Oulu Dance Pedagogy, Footlight ek, Helsinki Dance Institute ek, Finnish National Opera Ballet School and abroad: Danshögskolan Stockholm, The Hague/Lucent Dance Theatre, Hamburg/ Lola-Rogge-Schule, Viljandi Cultural Academy, Taipei/ National University of the Arts (TNUA) School of Dance.

Juha Kirjonen

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