Youth America Grand Prix – Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala

NEW YORK, NY (February 2023) – 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.
Tickets start at $75 and can be purchased at:
https://www.lincolncenter.org/venue/alice-tully-hall/stars-of-today-meet-the-stars-of-tomorrow
About Youth America Grand Prix
Youth America Grand Prix is the largest global network of dance. YAGP fulfills its mission of
dance education through scholarship auditions, master classes, alumni services,
performances, and education. For the past 24 years, over $4.5 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 200,000 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. Today, more than 12,000 young dancers
audition annually. More than 450 Youth America Grand Prix alumni are now dancing with 80
professional companies around the world, including American Ballet Theatre, New York City
Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal
Ballet (UK), Mariinsky Ballet and many others. Over 100 of these alumni are soloists and
principal dancers. Larissa Saveliev founded Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) after training
and touring with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, before moving to the United States
in the early 90’s.

Listings Editors
Youth America Grand Prix’s Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala one-night-only
performance is on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 7pm, at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New
York City.
Tickets start at $75 and can be purchased at:
https://www.lincolncenter.org/venue/alice-tully-hall/stars-of-today-meet-the-stars-of-tomorrow
GALA LEADERSHIP

Paul Arnhold | Elissa Brenner | Lili Buffett | Chelsea Clinton | Grace Fuller Marroquin

Wes Gordon | Alyson Gradone | Rebecca Hessel Cohen | Sarah Hoover
Lilli Hymowitz | Marcella Hymowitz | Eve Jobs | Lindsay Kraus | Candice Miller

Colby Mugrabi | Grace Pomeranc | Indre Rockefeller | Priya Shukla
Daniela Tisch | Virginia W. Tomenson | Lesley Vecsler | Lina Wallach

Larissa Saveliev
Founder, Yagp

Richard Osterweil
Chair Of The Board

And the board of trustees of Youth America Grand Prix request the pleasure of your company at The Stars Of Today Meet The Stars Of Tomorrow YAGP 25th Anniversary Kick-Off Gala on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 7:00PM. Performance followed by dinner and dancing with the artists.

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
(65th Street At Broadway),
New York City