Christos Papadopoulos – First Recipient of the International Dance Award "Rose"

The Greek choreographer has won the inaugural Rose International Dance Prize, which Forbes and The Guardian compare in prestige to the Booker and Turner prizes. The award was presented at a ceremony at the renowned Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London on February 8, 2025. Christos was honored for his production LARSEN C, which was showcased at One Dance Festival in Plovdiv in 2021.

On May 30 this year, in Plovdiv, the Bulgarian audience will have the opportunity to see his new work, MY FIERCE IGNORANT STEP, a co-production of One Dance Festival, just two weeks after its world premiere at Onassis Stegi in Athens. This makes Bulgaria the second stop for the latest creation of the artist who has now received the world’s most prestigious dance award, presented on February 8 at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre, one of the global centers for dance.

This historic award, established by the team at Sadler’s Wells, marks the culmination of a rigorous selection process involving hundreds of performances from around the world. It is awarded biennially for outstanding achievements in choreography. The Rose International Dance Prize fills the gap for a large-scale, internationally recognized dance award.

Sir Alistair Spalding, Artistic Director and Co-Executive Director of Sadler’s Wells, previously stated:
"We want this award to push the boundaries of the art form, spark conversations, and encourage experimentation. We hope that the Rose Prize will do for dance what the Turner Prize has done for visual arts and what the Booker Prize has done for literature."

The award is divided into two categories:

*The Rose Prize: For established choreographers, awarded for a full-length production of at least 60 minutes – Christos Papadopoulos for LARSEN C.

*The Bloom Prize: For emerging choreographers with up to 10 years of experience – Stav Struz Boutrous (Israel) for Sepia, inspired by the traditional Georgian dance horumi.

LARSEN C solidified Papadopoulos’ signature style of minimalism, gradual progression, and meticulous movement precision, establishing him among Europe’s leading choreographers. Inspired by the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where Sector C cracked and detached, Christos constructs a profoundly immersive performance through stylization and refined scenography, turning dance into an act of contemplation and meditation.

The winners were selected by a five-member jury consisting of: Prof. Christopher Bannerman (dance theorist and practitioner, chair of the jury), PJ Harvey (singer and musician), Karthika Naïr (actress and poet), Dame Arlene Phillips (choreographer and stage director), and Dr. Samuel Ross (fashion designer and Artistic Director of London Design Biennale 2025).

Prior to this, 14 curators, including artists, producers, and writers, compiled a longlist of 42 original dance productions from all over the world. The final selection included four nominees for The Rose Prize and three for The Bloom Prize.

In addition to Christos Papadopoulos, the nominees for The Rose International Dance Prize included:

Lia Rodrigues (Brazil) for ENCANTADO
Marco da Silva Ferreira (Portugal) for CARCAÇA (featured in One Dance Festival 2023)
Kyle Abraham (USA) for An Untitled Love

Two of these works, LARSEN C by Christos Papadopoulos, which transforms dance into meditative minimalism, and CARCAÇA by Portugal’s Marco da Silva Ferreira, an explosive fusion of club and urban dance, were previously presented in Plovdiv in 2021 and 2023.

In 2025, One Dance Festival will co-produce and premiere the new works of two of the finalists: BORDA by Lia Rodrigues (Brazil), known as the “woman of dance” for her exceptional 40-year career, premiering on June 7 and MY FIERCE IGNORANT STEP by Christos Papadopoulos, premiering on May 30 at Boris Hristov House of Culture in Plovdiv.

Thus, three of the four finalists for the inaugural edition of the Rose International Dance Prize have been co-produced by One Dance Festival, a testament to the festival’s vision and the quality of its artistic selection, supporting bold and authentic creators on the global stage.

Additionally, in 2025, the festival will co-produce three Bulgarian productions—a record number for a single edition, with details to be announced soon.

Christos Papadopoulos studied dance and choreography at SNDO (School for New Dance Development) in Amsterdam, theater at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece, and political science in Athens. He is the founder of the dance company “The Lion and the Wolf”.

His early works OPUS and ELVEDON gained significant recognition at Pórta Theater in Greece. ELVEDON was awarded at Aerowaves ‘16 and was later presented in Paris, Amsterdam, and other European cities. OPUS was selected for Aerowaves ‘18 and soon embarked on an international tour. This was followed by ION (2018), supported by Onassis Stegi and co-produced by Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) and Le Lieu Unique (Nantes). His defining production, LARSEN C (2021), was an international co-production presented at over 25 venues and festivals across Europe.

In 2023, Papadopoulos created MELLOWING for the prestigious Dance On company, and later MYCELIUM for the Ballet of the Lyon Opera and the Lyon Dance Biennale. In June 2024, he created a solo piece for Georgios Kotsifakis for LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, followed by a premiere with NDT 1 in September.

His latest production, MY FIERCE IGNORANT STEP, will premiere on May 16, 2025, at Onassis Stegi in Athens, before traveling to Plovdiv for its Bulgarian premiere.