Youth America Grand Prix 'Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow' Gala Returns to NYC

The world's largest student ballet scholarship competition - YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX (YAGP) - returns to Lincoln Center, New York City for the first time since before the covid pandemic to host its 2023 Stars of Today Meets the Stars of Tomorrow Gala.

The Gala kicks off YAGP's 25th Anniversary season, with a program that features the World Premiere of Reflective Response #1, danced by Michaela Mabinty DePrince*, choreographed by My'Kal Stromile, both from Boston Ballet. Accompanying the piece is 15-year-old prodigy singer Paloma Dineli Chesky and Grammy Award-nominated pianist David Chesky, performing live. In his New York debut, Jacopo Tissi (La Scala Ballet) will dance the U.S. Premiere of a solo excerpt from the ballet, The Ninth Wave, choreographed by Bryan Arias. Tissi will also dance Le Corsaire Act II pas de deux with Christine Shevchenko* (American Ballet Theatre). Jun Masuda* (Tulsa Ballet) and Shale Wagman* (Bavarian State Ballet, New York debut), will dance the U.S. Premiere of Hungarian Dances, and Wagman will join Evelina Godunova (Berlin State Ballet, New York debut) for a pas de deux from Flames of Paris. Tiler Peck (New York City Ballet) and Roman Mejia (New York City Ballet) will perform a pas de deux from George Balanchine's Tarantella, Constantine Allen* (Dutch National Ballet) will perform 5 Tango's choreographed by the legendary Hans van Manen, and Chloe Misseldine* (American Ballet Theatre) will perform William Tell. Claudia Mota and Allen will perform the iconic pas de deux from Le Parc by Angelin Prejlocaj.

Israeli choreographers, Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal, will present rarely seen works performed by YAGP International Contemporary Dance Ensemble (ICE), made up of 35 dancers, spanning 15 countries. Dancers from around the world auditioned for ICE, then flew to Israel in December 2022 to rehearse with the ballet masters. 18 dancers from the ensemble will perform excerpts from OCD Love and Decadance at the Gala.

Sharing a stage with these ballet superstars are YAGP's 2023 competition winners (stars of tomorrow), dancing contemporary and classical ballet favorites. These talented young dancers (ages 9 - 19) will dance in front of top ballet school directors and company heads in hopes of scholarships and job opportunities.

16 year-old Nikita Malaki from Kyiv, Ukraine will perform. He now trains with The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, made possible by a generous grant from The Howard G. Buffett Foundation to support YAGP's Ukraine relief efforts. When the war on Ukraine began, YAGP worked quickly to relocate dance students from Ukraine and place them in YAGP partner schools in Europe and the United States to safely continue their dance training. To date, YAGP's Ukraine Relief campaign has put over 200 dancers on a path to a professional career in dance. For more information, see YAGP's Founder Larissa Saveliev on CBS 60 Minutes. Proceeds from the Gala benefit YAGP's Ukraine efforts as well as dance scholarships and education.