The Youth America Grand Prix has come to Sydney! Karen van Ulzen was there.
The Youth America Grand Prix has now been going for 25 years and has grown into what must be the biggest student competition in the business. Established by American/Russian former dancers Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev in the United States, the event has gone from strength to strength. Each year the YAGP team travel around the world, holding semi-finals in 15 countries and dispensing career-defining opportunities to gifted students. Apart from each semi-final being a valuable experience in itself, a select number of contestants is also offered the opportunity to participate in the Final in New York. This year, for the first time, YAGP added Sydney to its circuit.
YAGP is more than just a competition; it is also a big audition. Alongside the prizes, YAGP provides the opportunity to win scholarships and placements at leading schools and companies. When entering the competition, contestants choose a preferred school from YAGP’s list of participating schools. All the contestants’ performances are filmed and the video is sent to the recruitment person (either livestream or packaged later, depending on time zones). That way the director, even if they can’t attend the event in person, can make their selections from wherever they are overseas. In effect, YAPG has become a useful recruitment service, with benefits to both dancer and employer.
Over the years, more than US$5 million has been awarded in scholarships and about 450 dancers placed in more than 80 dance companies. “YAPG has become a global pipeline, changing the way talent is identified,” as Guiseppe Bausilio, Broadway dancer and YAGP alumnus said in his award announcements. “It has become the world’s biggest dance family, the internet of dance, if you will.”
The response to this first semi-final in Australia was instant and huge. More than 400 young dancers flocked to the Concourse Theatre in Chatswood on the weekend, including a large percentage of New Zealanders, who put in an exceptionally strong showing of high quality candidates.
YAGP is divided into Pre-Competitive (9-11), Junior (12-14) and Senior (15+). Each contestant had to perform a classical solo from the repertoire and their own contemporary solo, as well as take part in masterclasses, held at the theatre or at the Bangarra Studios on the Wharf. Watching closely was an international panel of adjudicators: Guiseppe Bausilio (as above), Maria Eichwald (John Cranko School, Germany); Lisa Pavane (director, Australian Ballet School); Edmund Stripe (Alberta Ballet School, Canada); and Gennadi and Larissa Saveliev, chaired by David McAllister, presently the acting artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
The prizes went to:
PRE-COMPETITIVE (10-11 years)
Contemporary:
1 Lila Forkes (11) Independent
2 Livinia Hamilton (11) Bergen Lavelle Classical Coaching
Equal 3rd Makai Lewis-Rees (11) Perth Classical and Contemporary Coaching and Willow Duncan 11) The Academy Australia (NSW)
Pre competitive: classical
1 Livinia Hamilton (11) Bergen Lavelle Classical Coaching
2. Elsa Liao (9) Mt Eden Ballet Academy (NZ)
3 Lila Forkes (11) Independent
JUNIOR (12-14)
Men’s Contemporary
1: Lukas Elliott (13)
2. Haruku Hoshi (13) Perth Classical and Contemporary Coaching
3 Benjamin Groen (14) Papilio Atelier (NZ)
Junior Women’s contemporary
- Tallulah Palmer-O’Brien (14) Mt Eden Ballet Academy (NZ)
- Yve-Noelle Bollinger (14) Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy (Qld)
- Holly Robinson (13) Dance North Academy (NSW) AND Camryn Warry (14) Prima Youth Classical Academy (Qld)
Junior Classical Men
1 Benjamin Groen (14) Papilio Atelier (NZ)
2 Oscar Taggart (14) Alegria Dance Studios (NSW)
3 Xavier Martin (13) Lisa Clark Dance Centre
Junior Classical Women
1 Mio Denize (13) Independent
2 Samantha McDonald (14) The National Ballet School (Vic)
3 Xirui Xu (12) Queensland Dance Centre
Senior Contemporary Men
1 Ernesto Young (16) Alegria Dance Studios (NSW)
2 Finley Adams (16) Dance North Academy (NSW)
3 Noah Cosgriff (18) Australian Academy of Classical Ballet (Vic)
Senior Contemporary Women
1 Ella Marshall (16) The Academy Australia (NSW)
2 Ruby Leddy (15) Bergen Lavelle Classical Coaching
3 Mantraa Rane (16) Melbourne Academy of the Arts
Senior Classical Men
1 Noah Cosgriff (18) Australian Academy of Classical Ballet
2. Takdanai McLeoad-Smith (18) Maggie Lorraine Classical Coaching (Vic)
3. Hamish Pullin (16) Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy AND Hamish Giddens (16) Convergence Dance Studios (NZ).
Senior Classical Women
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Georgia Lorrange (16) Dance North Academy (NSW)
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Katie Shi (15) Mt Eden Ballet Academy (NZ)
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Chelsea-Lee Nicholls (18) Tanya Pearson Academy
Ensemble: Georgia Lorange and Finley Adams – Dance North Academy
GRAND PRIX (for the dancer who excelled in both classical and contemporary):
Junior: Tamison Soppet (13) Convergence Dance Studios (NZ)
Senior: Lauren Wycherley (15) Papilio Atelier (NZ)
But wait! There’s more! Numerous scholarships, short and long-term, were awarded to schools such as the Australian Ballet School to English National Ballet School, Palucca in Dresden, the Princess Grace Academy Monte Carlo and the new Nacho Duato school in Madrid. There were too many to mention here, but especially notable those were those to Noah Cosgriff and Takdanai McLeod-Smith, who received scholarship offers to both the American Ballet Theatre JKO School in New York and to the Dutch National Ballet School. Katie Shi received a full year’s scholarship to the Australian Ballet School and Tamison Soppet received an offer from the Royal Ballet School, UK.
More scholarships were still being confirmed at the time of going to press.
The 2024 Final will be held in New York from April 11 to 20 next year. The Australian/NZ finalists had not been confirmed at the time of going to press.
Congratulations to all for an outstanding event. Next stop for the YAGP team: Singapore.
– KAREN VAN ULZEN