YAGP

If you are a young, pre-professional dancer intent on earning a contract from a company, the Youth America Grand Prix (or YAGP, as it's often referred to in video tags) is the place for you.

YAGP is "the world's largest student ballet scholarship competition" and a truly extraordinary event.  Dancers come from all over the world to compete, and the subsequent competition is fierce.  What makes YAGP so valuable for young dancers is that it offers valuable scholarship money to prestigious dance academies and the possibility of a contract with a professional company; the offer of a contract means paid employment which, for many dancers, signifies the ability to keep dancing as a career and allow them to continue to pursue their passion.

Although this article is from 2011, it offers an interesting review of several of the dances from that competition.  As its author Roslyn Sulcas mentions, the competition draws over 5,000 students from across the globe, and only 300 make it to the semifinals in New York.  That's not even the finals, and yet 94% of the competition has already been eliminated.  That really tells you something about the level of these dancers.  Even making it to the semifinals is an extraordinary accomplishment.  Actually receiving a medal or winning?  These dancers have invested their whole lives, countless hours of training and practicing and stretching, just for the opportunity of maybe possibly getting close to the awards.

I've added two of the dances referenced by Sulcas ("Cartoon Girl" danced by Gaya Bommer Yemini and "Variation from Don Quixote" danced by Aran Bell) into this post because they're worth a look.

Above: "Cartoon Girl"

Above: "Variation from Don Quixote," at 2:32

(Aran won the competition with this performance)

Both Gaya and Aran were featured in the documentary First Position, released in 2011, that followed several young dancers in their pursuit of the YAGP competition title.  Although I've yet to personally see the documentary, I highly recommend watching it for greater insight into the competition.  Its website gives a good overview of the film's goals, and you can read about each of the dancers.  I'll do a post about one of the dancers, Miko Fogarty, soon because I find her dancing absolutely incredible.

In the meantime, take a look at the trailer for the documentary.  Even the music makes me excited!