Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of dancing around downtown Atlanta this weekend. Hundreds of ballet dancers - ages 9 to 19 - from the Atlanta area will be auditioning this weekend for the Youth America Grand Prix regional semi-finals at Georgia Institute of Technology Ferst Center for the Arts. Throughout the weekend, the students will attend workshops, competitions, and dance classes. Selected competitors will continue on to the finals in New York City in April.
YAGP awards more than $250,000 a year in scholarships to send young dancers to leading schools and dance companies to continue their training. Past winners have gone on to join American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, among others! The international semi-finals have just concluded in Brazil, Korea, China, Australia, Japan, Mexico, France and Spain. This year’s regionals will come to 22 cities across America including Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Tampa, Chicago, Dallas, Boston and Atlanta.
YAGP is the largest global network of dance and fulfills its mission of dance education through scholarship auditions, master classes, alumni services, educational and outreach activities, performances, and films. The organization has provided opportunities to 70,000 dancers worldwide to participate in international workshops and auditions, earning gifted young talent more than $3 million in scholarships awarded by leading dance schools around the globe. Today, more than 7,000 young dancers – ages 9 to 19 – audition annually. 350 Youth America Grand Prix alumni are now dancing with some 80 companies around the world.
Information: yagp.org
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