On April 18th and 19th YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX (YAGP) – the world’s largest student ballet scholarship organization – celebrated its 25th Anniversary with its signature Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala at Lincoln Center.

Hundreds of young aspiring ballerinas in white tutus covered the David. H Koch Theater stage, performing a Grand Défilé, a YAGP traditional pièce d’occasion, for the two evening event.

Both performance nights were filled with magic as ballet stars graced the stage, many once YAGP contestants themselves including, Melissa Hamilton of The Royal Ballet, Skylar Brandt of American Ballet Theatre, Bianca Scudamore of Paris Opera Ballet and Mackenzie Brown of The Stuttgart Ballet.

Corsaire (Photo by Jennifer Curry Wingrove for LK Studio)

Multiple World Premieres were performed including Dea by Maria Konrad, with Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Adji Cissoko and English National Ballet’s Vsevolod Maievskyi, with music by Karen LeFrak; and More Than Nothing by James Whiteside with ABT’s Isabella Boylston, Catherine Hurlin, and Jake Roxander, and live musical performance by pianist and composer Matthew Whitaker.

A black-tie dinner was hosted on April 18th featuring a dazzling guest list including ballet stars, fashion designers, magazine editors, artists, and socialites. Notable names included, Brian Atwood, Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky, Ashley Bouder, Candace Bushnell, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig, Ashlee Rose Hartley, Carolina Herrera, Judith M. Hoffman, Kamie Lightburn, Christina Lyon, Linda and Ed Morse, Juliano Nunes, Cynthia Rowley, Carlos Dos Santos, Gabe Stone Shayer, and Rob Vecsler.

BFA

Gala Committee chairs included Paul Arnhold and Wes Gordon, Julia Arnhold, Michael and Dennis Basso, Elissa Brenner, Chelsea Clinton, Rebecca Hessel Cohen, Courtney Davis, Aly Gradone, Melanie Hamrick, Sarah Hoover, Lilli Hymowitz, Lindsay Kraus, Candice Miller, Colby Mugrabi, Grace Pomeranc, Lilah Ramzi, Emily Reifel, Indre Rockefeller, Priya Shukla, Daniela W. Tisch, Barbara Tober, Virginia Wettlaufer Tomenson, Lesley Thompson Vecsler, and Lila Wallach.

Artists and fashion designers created custom pointe shoes – with pearls, rhinestones, feathers, lace – that decorated the promenade during dinner. Participating designers included, Alicia+Olivia, Dennis Basso, Dylan’s Candy Bar by Dylan Lauren, Carolina Herrera, KHAITE, Libby Klein, Michael Kors, Adam Lippes, LoveShackFancy, The Row, Cynthia Rowley and Giuseppe Zanotti.

Artist Deanna First, whose colorful ballet drawings covered the invitation, menu, and dance floor installation, did live illustrations on site for patrons and dancers.

Over the past 25 years, $5 million has been awarded in scholarships to the world’s leading dance schools, with up to $500,000 now awarded annually. Since YAGP’s founding in 1999, over 250,000 young dancers – ages 9 to 19 – of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds have participated in YAGP’s international workshops, audition classes, and dance awareness events.

Michelle Ochs, Samantha Pariente, Aly Gradone (Photo by BFA)

Today, more than 15,000 young dancers audition annually at YAGP and 450 alumni are now dancing with 80 professional companies around the world. Learn more at https://yagp.org/

– by Brittany Eger, NYC contributor to KDHamptons