Youth America Grand Prix Winners Announced

For the last week, New York City has been teeming with bunheads, here to compete for over $300,000 in scholarships at Youth America Grand Prix. Out of 7,000 dancers who competed in regional semi-finals, 350 were selected as NYC finalists, with over 70 moving forward to Wednesday night’s final round. The winners were announced publicly yesterday evening and given a chance to perform one last time during YAGP’s glittering “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” gala at Lincoln Center—and they did not disappoint. Afterwards, a heavyweight list of international guest stars that included the Bolshoi Ballet’s Evgenia Obraztsova and Semyon Chudin, The Royal Ballet’s Melissa Hamilton and Eric Underwood, newly promoted Mariinsky principal Kimin Kim and American Ballet Theatre principals Isabella Boylston and Paloma Herrera, wowed the audience with a mix of world premieres and showstopping pas de deux.

 

Here’s a rundown of the results:

 

Senior Women:

1^st place: Yu Kurihara, Ikuko Watanabe Ballet Studio, Japan

2^nd place: Rio Anderson, City Ballet School of San Francisco, USA

3^rd Place: Bianca Scudamore, Classical Coaching Australia, Australia

 

Senior Men:

1^st Place: Shogo Hayami, John Cranko School, Germany

2^nd Place: Austen Acevedo, Orlando Ballet School, USA

3^st Place: Lang Ma, Washington School of Ballet, USA

 

Junior Youth Grand Prix Award: Shin-Yong Kim, Sunhwa Arts Middle/High School, Republic of Korea

 

Junior Women:

1^st Place: Juliette Bosco, Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program, USA

1^st Place: Maggie Chadbourne, Orlando Ballet School, USA

2^nd Place: Kotomi Yamada, Yamada Chie Sunny Ballet School, Japan

3^rd Place: Yeojin Shim, Yewon School, Republic of Korea

 

Junior Men:

1^st Place: Liam Boswell, Next Generation Ballet at the Patel Conservatory, USA

2^nd Place: Yago Guerra Bale, Johem de Sao Vicente, Brazil

3^rd Place: Ryu Bautista, The McDonald School of Performing Arts, Australia

 

Hope Award:

Antonio Casalinho, Annarella Academia de Ballet e Dança, Portugal

 

Pas de Deux Award: Juliette Bosco and Theophilus Pilette, Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program, USA

 

Ensemble Award: Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program in “Dance Boéhme.”