The winners of The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2025

We are pleased to announce the medallists of The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2025 final which took place at Auditorio Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo, Brazil this evening.

The Fonteyn is the pinnacle for young dancers trained in the RAD syllabus, with previous medallists including the likes of Claudia Dean, Leanne Benjamin, Steven McRae and Francesca Hayward.

After a week of coaching and semi-finals, the coveted gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to:

• Gold (sponsored by Freed of London): Samantha Maestre Cortez, age 18 from Brazil, taught by Aracy de Almeida Bononi and training at Lapidari Núcleo de Artes.
• Silver: Valentina Toscani, age 18 from Brazil, taught by Simone Malta, Dora de Paula Soares, Maria Eugênia and Ana Caroline Pitanga, and training at Cia Jovem Basileu França/English National Ballet School.
• Bronze: Yasmin Oliveira Lopes dos Santos, age 16 from Brazil, taught by Simone Malta, Cristina Laura, Ingrid Chafick, Ana Carolina Pitanga, and training at Cia Jovem Basileu França, and Rafaella Pinheiro Marion, age 15 from Brazil, taught by Liliana Testa and training at Iris Ativa-Lina Penteado.

Rafaella received the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award. At the semi-finals on Friday, Samantha was announced as the Musicality Award winner and Lárah Rachel de Carvalho Bento Rodrigues won the Dancer’s Own Choreographic Award.

A week-long competition, The Fonteyn attracted 35 candidates from over 10 countries around the world, who each took part in coaching sessions by RAD’s Artistic Director Alexander Campbell, Daniela Severian and Lars van Cauwenbergh, and semi-finals judged by a panel comprising Paloma Herrera and Julio Bocca. For the final, finalists performed before a panel comprising Herrera and Bocca, with Ana Botafogo and Mayara Magri joining them.

All classical repertoire performances were accompanied by live piano music, played by pianists Silvina Rocco and Joaquin Panisse. Maria Inês Vasconcellos joined Rocco and Panisse to play the piano during The Fonteyn coaching week.

At the final, finalists performed Classical Repertoire Variations and their ‘Dancer’s Own’, a choreographed solo created by themselves, their teacher, or a peer, to a piece of music of their choice.

Finalists also performed newly choreographed commissioned variations created by The Fonteyn 2025 commissioned choreographer, Mayara Magri. Finalists performed one of two variations, titled ‘Samba Alone’ and ‘Frivolity to music by Andre Mehmari. These variations premiered at The Fonteyn final and marked Magri’s debut as a choreographer.

As well as The Fonteyn finalists taking to the stage, audiences were treated to two guest performances: Dalal Achcar Ballet Company dancers Gabriela Sisto and Fernando Mendonça performed ‘Melodia Sentimental’ from Floresta Amazônica, set to music by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Sao Paulo Dance Company dancers Carolina Pegurelli and Yoshi Suzuki performed the ‘White Swan Pas De Deux’ from Act II of Swan Lake, from Mario’s Galizzi restaging under the direction of Ines Bogéa.

Image credit: Iari Davies. L-R Samantha, Valentina, Yasmin and Rafaella with the judges.