The YAGP 2019 Youth America Grand Prix ballet auditions, Gala and International Dance School Festival are at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, Wednesday-Sunday, April 17-20, 2019. From $50
Get tickets at davidhkochtheater.com
YAGP Youth America Grand Prix
The Youth America Grand Prix is the world’s largest non-profit student ballet audition. It is open to dance students around the world from the ages of 9 to 19 years old.
The world’s leading ballet companies send their ballet masters to offer scholarships. The theater is filled with ballet stars of the past and present. They’re not just on stage, they are in the audience. If you know the ballet world, you will have one OMG moment after another.
These are the most fun ballet performances you will see in New York City. Yes, more fun than New York City Ballet or American Ballet Theatre. The kids dance pieces selected from a standard repertoire that everybody in the audience knows. These are the only ballet performances in New York City where the audience hoots and hollers. There is an electric energy in the room.
You have to wonder how some of the kids could be so immensely talented when they are so young.
The Gala draws the world’s greatest talents. Many of them went through similar competitions here and in Europe on their road to stardom.
It all adds up to one of the world’s great ballet festivals.
YAGP 2019 Youth America Grand Prix
Final Round
This is it. 1,200 of the most promising young artists from around the world have been working for a week of intense training, networking and mentoring.
Either you dance your heart out and maybe get a ticket to the start of your career, or maybe it doesn’t work out and you have to try again next year.
There is so much talent and passion on stage, you just want them all to win.
Dance Magazine listed these students to watch:
- Gabriel Figueredo (18, Brazil)
- António Casalinho (15, Portugal)
- Mackenzie Brown (16, U.S.)
- Jake Roxander (16, U.S.)
- Joaquin Gaubeca (16)
- Jonacy Montero (16)
- Mahalaya Tintiangco-Cubales (15)
Gabriel Figueredo
One of the invited students is 18-year old Brazilian dancer Gabriel Figueredo who earned a full scholarship to the Suttgart Ballet school at YAGP in 2013. This year Figueredo took 1st place at the YAGP auditions in Barcelona, Spain; and won the Prix de Lausanne.
He is someone to watch. Look at the arch of his feet. Figueredo has a grace in his movement and a long extension that may make him a star.
Figueredo is representing the John Cranko School at the Stuttgart Ballet in the International Dance School Festival on Saturday.
20th Anniversary Gala: Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow
This 20th Anniversary lineup is led by Olga Smirnova, Bolshoi Ballet Principal. What a beautiful dancer. She is one of the best in the world right now.
Gala tickets include dinner with the artists after the show. Gala proceeds pay for scholarships to gifted students. YAGP awards over $350,00 in scholarships every year. Some of these kids have nothing but raw talent. YAGP scholarships offer the opportunity of a lifetime.
Smirnova will be joined by:
- American Ballet Theatre: Skylar Brandt; Herman Cornejo (April 18); Thomas Foster, Sung Woo Han, Catherine Hurlin; Joaquin De Luz; Calvin Royal III; Hee Seo; Christine Shevchenko; Cory Stearns; Katherine Williams
- Boston Ballet: Derek Dunn
- Finnish National Ballet: Rebecca King
- Houston Ballet: Tyler Donatelli
- Joffrey Ballet: Fabrice Calmels (April 18)
- Mariinsky Ballet: Kimin Kim; Ekaterina Kondaurova; Konstantin Zverev
- New York City Ballet: Taylor Stanley, Daniel Ulbricht; Indiana Woodward
- Parsons Dance: Zoey Anderson
- Victor Ullate Ballet: Lucia Lacarra
- World Ballroom Champion: Denys Drozdyuk (April 18)
International Dance School Festival
This is a new feature this year. The world’s leading international dance academies show their stuff.
YAGP 2019 Youth America Grand Prix Tickets
Final Round: Wednesday, April 17 at 7pm. $50
Gala Performance: Thursday-Friday, April 18-19 at 7pm. From $80
Gala dinner tickets at (646) 791-9500
International Dance School Festival: Saturday, April 20 at 3pm. From $65
Get tickets at davidhkochtheater.com
David H. Koch Theater
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023
(Columbus Ave at 63rd St)
Lincoln Center (on the left as you enter the main plaza)
