The Benois de la Danse meets annually to bestow a prize on a deserving ballet dancer, choreographer, designer, and composer. It aims to present the breadth of dance internationally and to bring people of different aesthetics together. It also has a giving-back component: The revenue from the gala goes toward financial assistance for veterans of ballet.

This year’s nominees include Americans Sara Mearns (you'll see her on our upcoming June cover) and Chase Finlay of NYCB, and Kathleen Breen Combes of Boston Ballet. Others include today's romantic ballerinas Alina Cojocaru and Yevgenia Obraztsova.

Choreographers include Lar Lubovitch (see our “Choreography in Focus”) and Boris Eifman. Sir Paul McCartney is nominated in the composer category for Ocean’s Kingdom (I did like his music for this ballet) though I doubt he'll be there.

There will be two big performances, and an announcement of who wins in each category. I'll eventually post the winners on my blog. —Wendy Perron