Ioanna Avraam - First Soloist, Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett): Recognition Award.
The first solo dancer of the Vienna State Ballet IOANNA AVRAAM was presented with the SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD of the HELENA VAZ DA SILVA EUROPEAN AWARDS FOR RAISING AWARENESS ON CULTURAL HERITAGE at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on 21 October 2024.
Named after the Portuguese journalist, writer, cultural activist and politician Helena Vaz da Silva, the awards are presented annually to European citizens. The jury has explained its decision to give this special recognition to Miss Avraam: ‘Through her art, Ioanna Avraam contributes to the promotion of intangible European cultural heritage and represents values such as freedom, equality and respect for diversity.’
Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins (Trustee der Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), Prize winner Ioanna Avraam (Special Recognition Award) & Androulla Vassiliou (Vice-president Europa Nostra)
Photo credits: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Márcia Lessa
HERE IS MY LETTER ABOUT MISS AVRAAM’S CAREER, WHICH WAS SENT TO THE COMISSION:
When I was asked to write a “recommendation letter”, which is a great honour, about Miss Avraam's career, I was all of a sudden well aware that I did not want to create an „eulogy" about her career, personality and talents. In contrast to the most frequent too-long (and eloquent) speeches used to praise artistic personalities, I much prefer to use in my written work exactly what Miss Avraam has been teaching us, as an audience, throughout the years: a certain simplicity based solely on experience and depth.
To make a long story short, I must confess that her work is not „new" to me. For the last (more or less) fourteen years, I have been following her career, aware of all the steps and jumps ahead but also obstacles along the way. This has also contributed very much to my work on critiques, interviews, and essays in a way that I will try to explain plainly in the next few lines.
I deeply believe that there are no „coincidences" in life and this request proves once more this „theory". It is not long ago, while watching Miss Avraam's Dèbut as Kitri in „Don Quixote" that „a light went on" and refused to leave me until now. It is no secret that in our present Ballet world, there is a certain worship (or should I use the word „cult") of a solely physical approach to Dance. This is sad but it is a fact. Naturally, the artistic side of interpretations suffers considerably from neglect which should not exist.
Miss Avraam's „Kitri" was not a „prototype" and a cliché of what should be considered „Spanish", but a character based on pure experience. During the performance, I became aware of the „sunshine" that was glowing inside her, probably a childhood memory from Cyprus, without any trace of affectation.
Her treatment of the matter contradicts the present (just physical) trend completely and that is the exact treatment that she gives also to other parts, either in Ballets with a plot and story to tell or in abstract ones.
She has been a tremendous Embassadress to her country and Austria, her adopted country, and to the Vienna State Opera. Wherever she has been, wherever she has performed.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to highlight the best of a Ballerina who has so much contributed to her profession. Today, it is a particular pleasure to highlight the career of one who has set an example and a standard for her work and her talent that really sets quite a scale for others to follow.
Ricardo Leitner
