“Woo!” could be the official sound effect of Youth America Grand Prix and was certainly an exciting part of the YAGP 25th Anniversary Kick-Off Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala on Tuesday, April 11.
An elongated balance in a tilted developpé side, a cool quadruple pirouette, or a tornado-ing five-forty, all were met with raucous applause and support, with extra enthusiasm from the excited students in the auditorium.
Seated along with the students were the patrons of the evening, clad in their best spring gala ensembles on an unseasonably warm Manhattan night. One of the highlights of the evening was the result of the fourth-wall-breaking excerpt from Ohad Naharin’s Decadance, where those stylish guests were welcomed on stage to boogie with the spirited and committed young dancers of the YAGP International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).
Simple but effective, it reminds us what YAGP is all about, which is providing dance opportunities for young artists but also that dance should be fun.
The Stars of Tomorrow
The program was certainly fun, with a nice mix of contemporary, classical ballet, solo, pas de deux, and group works. As the theme was “stars of today meet the stars of tomorrow,” the show progresses from their youngest dancer (age 10) to current-day professionals.
In the classical realm, ballets such as Grand Pas Classique (danced by Ana Luisa Arantes Negrão, 18) and Paquita (Alexei Orohovsky, 15) made impactful appearances.
Equally impressive, and refreshingly done with minimal signature competition flairs (multiple turns and side tilts), were contemporary pieces like Marco Goecke’s angular Hungarian Dance (Jun Masuda and Shale Wagman, professionals), Sharon Eyal and Gai Nejar’s excerpt from OCD Love for ICE, and Maria Konrad’s Gamzatti for the expressive Crystal Huang (14).
Encompassing every angle of dance is an impossible task but the selections in the program provided a good balance.
The Stars of Today
Present in all the dancers, from 10-year-old Anne Takahashi to seasoned principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre Christine Shevchenko, were precise, deep-plié, fifth positions. Considered a ballet dancer’s home base in almost all classical variations, this is the mark of a dancer with exceptional training.
While we love the turns and jumps, it is important to remember that ballet is hard in the in-between steps as well; too much focus on the bravura and the finesse of ballet becomes lost.
The difference though between the yet-to-be and the current professionals was a sense of calm confidence.
Shevchenko is a perfect example of cool tenacity, delivering quiet precision in Le Corsaire Act II pas de deux with partner Jacopo Tissi.
Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia, the reigning queen and king of flirting with the music, gave a playful rendition of George Balanchine’s Tarantella.
And to cap off the evening with a bang, Evelina Godunova and Shale Wagman set off metaphorical fireworks in an athletic Flames of Paris.
Larissa Saveliev, a former Bolshoi Ballet dancer, founded YAGP in 1999 where the competitions and classes were held in Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boca Raton, and now celebrating YAGP’s 25 years of success, the performance was followed by an evening of social dancing and networking in Alice Tally Hall.
With champagne flowing, the board, directors, and dancers with long-time relationships with the organization were either competing, teaching, or judging.
Over the past 25 years, it is undeniable YAGP has transformed the dance community through the global competition itself, workshops, outreach activities, alumni of the competition filling up the roster of top companies, and of course, the cultural impression of the 2010 documentary film First Position.
Most impactful, however, is how YAGP has affected training the “stars of tomorrow.”
While the program is undoubtedly successful in producing top talent – as displayed by the youth talent onstage and the professional dancers employed in companies across the world – the size and importance of the YAGP umbrella have transformed the priorities and approaches of a dancer to have a successful start to their career.
Whether it’s a student grappling if the financial investment in perfecting one solo that may help their progression as a performer, or it’s a judge struggling with how to attach a score to an art form, YAGP has introduced new conversations into the pedagogy of dance.
Being the lead feeding line to the top schools and companies in the world, it would have been nice to hear YAGP represent themselves as a spokesperson on their thoughts on some of the issues performers and students are facing in the dance industry, as well as some of the organizations plan and goals are for a continued 25 years of success.
While the celebration was welcome and necessary to acknowledge YAGP’s incredible accomplishment, there was an air of superiority underlying the structure of the evening, and it would have been interesting to hear even a snippet of what goals the massive organization plans to accomplish in the coming years.
Regardless, anyone could tell how the young dancers look up to the professionals, even seeing themselves in their shoes one day. And that’s the main message YAGP championed for the start of their 25th anniversary: the students of today are the stars of tomorrow.
Featured Photo for Inside YAGP’s Celebration of 25 Years Producing the Stars of Tomorrow of Christine Shevchenko for Photo by Darian Volkova, courtesy of YAGP.
