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Check Out These Two YAGP Live Streams This Weekend

Courtesy VAM Productions

Raise your hand if you're excited for competition season! Youth America Grand Prix Regional Semi-Finals are well underway, leading up to the much-awaited New York Finals April 12-19. Even better, they're live-streamed, meaning you now have the perfect excuse to spend your weekend at home, watching ballet (while sewing your pointe shoes and stretching, of course).

This weekend features semi-finals in Seattle, Washington and Tampa, Florida. To see the full schedules and set up streaming, click here. Streaming starts at $13.99. Packages of 2, 4, 6 or 12 total viewing hours are available, and viewers can log in and out as often as they like.

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Ballet Training

In YAGP's "Ask the Expert" Video Series, Sascha Radetsky Offers Advice for First-Year Company Members

ABT Studio Company artistic director Sascha Radetsky in YAGP's "Ask the Experts" series, screenshot via YouTube.

If your goal is to become a professional dancer, you likely have a lot of questions about what you need to do to get there. Last year, Youth America Grand Prix created a Facebook video series called "Ask the Expert," featuring conversations with dance professionals on topics ranging from nutrition to dancing in college to career building. (Good news: They are now available on YAGP's website and YouTube page).

This season, YAGP is expanding the series to include more interviews. The latest video features American Ballet Theatre Studio Company artistic director Sascha Radetsky. The topic? Navigating your first year of professional life, from a director's perspective. Radetsky answers questions about professional etiquette and protocol, navigating company hierarchy and managing conflicts, and offers his tips for a successful career and what qualities stand out to him in dancers.

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Trending

Varna International Ballet Competition Winners Include Some Familiar Faces

Varna IBC competitor Antonio Gameiro Casalinho. Photo by Nina Lokmadzhieva, Courtesy Varna IBC.

Every two years, dancers from all over the world head to the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna to try their luck at the Varna International Ballet competition. Established in 1964, the competition famously takes place at a leafy outdoor theater near the Black Sea, and its roster of past winners (Sylvie Guillem, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova) reads like a who's who of dance history.

This year's IBC, which took place July 15–30, brought together 120 dancers from 34 countries. After the third and final round, the winners were announced over the weekend. Yuan Zhe Zi (Jessica) Xuan, a grand sujet at Dutch National Ballet, won first place in the senior women's category. Sinuo Chang of China took first in the senior men's, while his partner, Siyi Li, placed first in the junior women's category. A few familiar faces from the competition circuit also made the list. Antonio Casolinho, a student at the Academy of Ballet and Dance in Portugal and this year's Junior Grand Prix winner at Youth America Grand Prix, took home the Special Distinction Award, Varna's top prize for juniors. Katherine Barkman, a principal guest artist with Ballet Manila, placed second in the senior women's category, fresh off her silver medal win at June's USA IBC in Jackson.

Read on to see the full list of prizewinners, then head to Varna IBC's Facebook page to catch videos of the competition. Congratulations to all!

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Ballet Training

Live Stream Alert: Dancers From 25 Countries Compete in the "Olympics of Dance"

Photo via World Ballet Competition live stream.

Though the World Ballet Competition based in Orlando, FL, is already under way, it's not too late for for you to start watching from the comfort of your own couch. A live stream of the competition is available through Saturday, June 16, on both the competition's website and Facebook page. Missed the first two days of the competition? You can watch them in full here.

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Trending

YAGP Just Announced the 2018 Winners

Elisabeth Beyer. Photo Courtesy VAM Productions.

Congratulations to the 2018 YAGP winners! After months of semi-finals, 1,800 dancers from around the world were chosen to attend a week of finals in New York, competing for ballet scholarships and contracts. We've been following the action all week (you can catch up on our backstage coverage, here). The 2018 competition wrapped up on April 19 with the Stars of Today Meet The Stars of Tomorrow gala which featured performances from pros like American Ballet Theatre's Isabella Boylston and New York City Ballet's Tiler Peck. Following today's awards ceremony, YAGP has just announced this year's winners (aka the dancers you're going to want make note of). Check out the full list and highlights from the competition below.

Senior Women

1st Place: Elisabeth Beyer (15), Ellison Ballet - Professional Training Program, NY, USA

2nd Place: Guo Wen Jin (16), Shanghai Dance School, China

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Trending

Bolshoi Dancers Denied Visas to Perform at YAGP Gala in NYC

Olga Smirnova. Photo by Quinn Wharton.

Several weeks ago, Youth America Grand Prix announced that the lineup for tonight's Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow gala at Lincoln Center's Koch Theater would include Bolshoi Ballet principal Olga Smirnova and first soloist Jacopo Tissi. But an article in Page Six published last night states that Smirnova and Tissi were denied visas to enter the US.

YAGP organizers "believe the Department of Homeland Security's decision may be motivated by the myriad tensions between the superpowers," says the piece, noting that "Smirnova is so revered in Moscow that her treatment could create a Russian backlash." The Mariinsky Ballet's Kimin Kim did receive a visa and was allowed to perform as scheduled.

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News

Onstage This Week: YAGP Finals, San Francisco Ballet's Festival of New Works, and More

YAGP 2018 New York Finals Week. Photo by VAM Productions, Courtesy YAGP.

Wonder what's going on in ballet this week? We've pulled together some highlights.


Youth America Grand Prix

After months of semi-finals, the final round of YAGP 2018 is finally here! This week, 1,800 finalists from 30 countries (chosen from the over 10,000 who auditioned) are gathered in New York. On April 18, the competition culminates in the Final Round at the Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, where the most promising participants will compete for scholarships and contracts with ballet schools and companies around the world. April 19 marks YAGP's Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow gala, featuring finalists from the competition alongside international ballet stars including Dutch National Ballet principal Sasha Mukhamedov, American Ballet Theatre's Isabella Boylston and Daniil Simkin, and New York City Ballet principal Daniel Ulbricht, among others. YAGP is live-streaming the finals all week—you can check it out on their website. Also, keep an eye on Pointe's social media channels tomorrow, April 17, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the competition.

Competing in YAGP this week? Here's a good luck message from ABT's Stella Abrera.

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News

Tune In To These Two YAGP Live Video Streams

Madison Penney, Youth Grand Prix winner at the YAGP 2017 Finals. Photo by VAM, Courtesy YAGP.

We're in the thick of Youth America Grand Prix regional semi-final season, and the famous competition is now being made available to fans everywhere at the click of a mouse. Here are two ways to keep up with YAGP from wherever you are:


Regional Semi-Finals Live Broadcast

Rooting for a friend competing or just want to keep tabs on the ballet world? A live broadcast of the competition is now available here. This weekend (January 12-14) are the Tampa, Florida and Denver, Colorado semi-finals; packages to watch online start at $13.99. You can choose 2, 4, 6 or 12 total viewing hours, and log in and out of the site at your convenience. YAGP is also broadcasting their "Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow" gala in Tampa this Saturday at 8 pm EST. The performance will feature National Ballet of Canada's Evan McKie and Svetlana Lunkina, Ballet West's Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell, New York City Ballet's Ashley Bouder and Daniel Ulbricht and international guest artists Adiarys Almeida and Taras Domitro.

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News

Remember These Names: The 2017 YAGP Winners

Lauren Hunter, here at the Prix de Lausanne, also placed at YAGP. Photo by Gregory Batardon.

The Youth America Grand Prix has a knack for finding ballet's big names of tomorrow, and the latest crop of potential stars has arrived. At the end of last week, the winners of YAGP's New York City finals were announced with many dancers taking home scholarships to schools worldwide.

If you follow the competition circuit, you may be familiar with several of these names, but Pointe readers will definitely recognize Lauren Hunter, who came in third place for females in the senior age division. That's an impressive feat for any young dancer, but it's not the first prize Hunter has taken home this year. In our current April/May issue, we followed her throughout her journey at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, where she advanced to the final round. (Spoiler alert: She won fifth place and a scholarship to The Royal Ballet School.)

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Viral Videos

#TBT: When Ballet Stars Were YAGP Competitors

Michaela De Prince, Photo by Jordi Matas/Polaris/Newscom

It's Youth America Grand Prix time again, and when the competition wraps up this week, we'll meet some of tomorrow's potential stars. YAGP has a track record of predicting some of ballet's biggest names. Take a walk down memory lane with us and see for yourself.

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Ballet Training

The Judges Roundtable: 5 Frequent Competition Judges Share Their Advice, Pet Peeves, and Approach

Kyle Froman for Dance Magazine.

As told to Madeline Schrock and Nancy Wozny.

We asked five frequent judges for their advice, their pet peeves and their approach to the scoring process.


Peter Stark

  • Head of the men's program at Boston Ballet School, associate director of Boston Ballet II
  • Valentina Kozlova IBC, Youth America Grand Prix

Igor Burlak, Courtesy Boston Ballet.

I am an advocate for competitions. I know there are people who are against them, but dancers can learn a lot when they're working one-to-one versus in a classroom setting. My mentor Bruce Marks, who was chair of the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson for many years, said, “the process is the prize." It's true. As a coach, I've had dancers win and lose, but I certainly feel like the process of setting a goal and working on something is valuable.

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News

YAGP 2016 Winners Announced

Last week’s Youth America Grand Prix Finals was a display of impressive dancing from hugely talented young competitors. Ranging from 9 to 19 years old and hailing from countries as far away as Switzerland and Australia, they gathered in New York City to compete in the senior, junior and pre-competitive age divisions. The awards ceremony was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last Friday, and prizes went beyond medals and bragging rights. A number of ballet organizations worldwide, including San Francisco Ballet School and The Royal Ballet School, handed out training scholarships, and companies like Houston Ballet and Dutch National Ballet even awarded some professional contracts. Here are 2016's top YAGP winners:

Grand Prix

Joonhyuk Jun (17)—UK/Korea

Joonhyuk Jun. Photo courtesy of Siggul/VAM Productions.

 

Senior Women

1st Place: Yu Hang (16)—China

2nd Place: Thays Golz (18)—Brazil

3rd Place: Makensie Henson (15)—Australia

Yu Hang. Photo courtesy of Siggul/VAM Productions.

 

Senior Men

1st Place: Narcisco Alejandro Medina Arias (17)—Cuba

2nd Place: Stanislaw Wegrzyn (17)—Germany/Poland

3rd Place: Motomi Kiyota (15)—Japan

 

Youth Grand Prix

Antonio Casalinho (12)—Portugal

Antonio Casalinho. Photo courtesy of Siggul/VAM Productions.

 

Junior Women

1st Place: Ashley Lew (12)—USA

2nd Place: Eri Shibata (14)—Japan

3rd Place (tie): Brigid Walker (14)—USA

3rd Place (tie): Kotomi Yamada (13)—Japan

 

Junior Men

1st Place: Itsuku Masuda (12)—Japan

2nd Place (tie): David Perez (12)—Mexico

2nd Place (tie): Samuel Gest (14)—USA

3rd Place (tie): Sheung-Yin Chan (14)—Hong Kong

3rd Place (tie): Yago Guerra (14)—Brazil

Itsuku Masuda. Photo courtesy of Siggul/VAM Productions.

 

Outstanding Artistry Award

Rafael Valdez Ramirez (18)—Colombia

 

Natalia Makarova Award

Kenedy Kallas (15)—USA

 

Shelley King Award for Excellence

Jolie Rose Lombardo (12)—USA

 

Mary Day Artistry Award

Julia Rose Sherrill (17)—USA

Vincenzo Di Primo (18)—Austria

 

Hope Award

Madison Penney (11)—USA

Madison Penney. Photo courtesy of Siggul/VAM Productions.

 

Outstanding Choreographer Award

Garrett Smith

Travis Wall

Guilherme Maciel

 

Click here for a full list of 2016 YAGP winners.

For more news on all things ballet, don’t miss a single issue.

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