THE FINAL ROUND OF THE COMPETITION (April 15, 2015) - Each year, over 5,000 talented young dance student’s audition worldwide at semi-final rounds conducted by YAGP around the globe. Over 1,200 of the most promising young ballet dancers, representing 30 countries on 5 continents, are chosen for the New York City Finals. Open to general public, the FINAL ROUND gave New York audiences a unique opportunity to see many of the world’s best young dancers before they disperse around the world to study on scholarship at the world’s leading dance academies.
Liam Boswell (FL, USA), Yago Guerra (Brazil) and Ryu Bautista (Australia) placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the men’s junior division. Juliette Bosco (NY, USA) and Maggie Chadbourne (CA, USA) tied for 1st in the women’s junior division with Kotomi Yamada (Japan) placing 2nd and Yeojin Shim (Korea) in 3rd. The junior Grand Prix award was given to Shin-Yong Him (Korea).
The senior men’s 1st place award was given to Shogo Hayami (Germany), with Austen Acevedo (FL, USA) placing 2nd and Lang Ma (DC, USA) in 3rd. Yu Kurihara (Japan) placed 1st, Rio Anderson (CA, USA) in 2nd, and Bianca Scudamore (Australia), in 3rd in the women’s senior divisision.
Ye Lim Choi and Sun Woo Lee (Korea) placed 1st in the Pas de Deux division with Juliette Bosco and Theophilus Pilette (USA) in 2nd and Mo Chen Zhao and Zachary Downer (USA) in 3rd.
In ensembles Ellison Ballet – Professional Training Program (NY, USA) placed 1st, Annarella Academia de Ballet e Danca (Portugal) placed 2nd, and The Rock School for Dance Education (PA, USA) came in 3rd.
The Hope Award, awarded to younger dancers who exhibit exceptional talent, was given to Antonio Casalinho (Portugal)
Larissa Saveliev, founder of YAGP, noted “This year we saw great talent, especially among the junior dancers, which gives us confidence in the future of ballet. This is reflected in a particularly strong offering of jobs and scholarships.