BALLET - Youth America Grand Prix 2022 Finals - Siena Espana - Laurencia

Siena Espana, Age 15, from Coastal Dance Centre, performs Variation from Laurencia at the YAGP 2022 Finals!

Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is the world's largest student ballet scholarship competition and global dance network, connecting students, teachers, schools, dance companies, and audiences worldwide. Now in its 22nd season, YAGP has reached more than 150,000 participants worldwide through its international ballet workshops, ballet auditions, ballet competitions, and ballet master classes.

To date, over $4 million has been awarded to young dancers in scholarships to leading dance schools worldwide, including The Ailey School, American Ballet Theatre JKO School, The Australian Ballet School, Ballet West Academy, Berlin State Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive, Boston Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, Dutch National Ballet Academy, English National Ballet School, European School of Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, John Cranko School of The Stuttgart Ballet, The Juilliard School, Paris Opera Ballet School, Princess Grace Academy, The Rock School for Dance Education, The Royal Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, The Washington School of Ballet, and Zurich Dance Academy, among other preeminent institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

More than 450 YAGP alumni are now dancing in over 80 leading companies around the world – American Ballet Theatre, The Australian Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Dresden Semperoper Ballett, Finnish National Ballet, Houston Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Miami City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, and The Stuttgart Ballet, among others – with more than 100 of them in soloist or principal dancer positions.

The annual YAGP Gala at Lincoln Center, Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow, features the biggest stars of the world’s leading dance companies, many of whom had their NYC debuts* at the YAGP Gala, alongside the rising ballerinas and male dancers of tomorrow.

Past guest artists have included such luminaries as Nina Ananiashvili, Roberto Bolle, Ashley Bouder, Darcey Bussell, José Manuel Carreño, Misty Copeland, Robert Fairchild, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Maria Kochetkova, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Isabelle Guerin, Lucia Lacarra, Manuel Legris, Vladimir Malakhov, Gillian Murphy, Marianela Nunez, Evgenia Obraztsova, Natalia Osipova*, Xander Parish, Tiler Peck, Tamara Rojo, Daniil Simkin, Polina Semionova*, Olga Smirnova, Yuan Yuan Tan, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Daniel Ulbricht, Ivan Vasiliev*, Diana Vishneva, Wendy Whelan, and many other dance legends.

YAGP was the subject of the 2011 award-winning First Position documentary, which followed six participants on their journey to compete at YAGP’s annual NYC Finals.

[anice-wh]

From the first moment I saw her, I thought she was my idol in Yagp senior final round but when I looked at the award's video.I was sad she is amazing and how she is jumping in air is lovely. GO SIÈNA💃💃

[LR-yumx]

Belissima! Delicate, lively and joyful!

[bbdoll]

Lovely, so graceful and she looks like she is enjoying the dance.

[avesraggiana]

Anastasia Smirnova at this year’s Moscow Ballet Competition does the grand jetes with greater elevation and more “hang time.”

[avesraggiana]

YAGP - like a cheerleading competition.