Set your calendars, sync your phones, and get ready! Wednesday, March 31st, the Youth America Grand Prix will present their virtual gala from Lincoln Center! As ballet moves forward into the digital age, everyone has been adapting, making changes, and looking to the future; The Youth America Grand Prix is no different. Continuing on with their tradition, they will be hosting their annual gala, a fundraiser to help provide scholarships to talented students around the world. This scholarship organization has had a large success in placing students at the best schools in the world, finding and nurturing talent, and fostering/influencing an entire generation of dancers.

Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) – the world’s largest ballet scholarship organization – will host its 2021 Virtual Gala on March 31, 2021 featuring a World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre Soloist and YAGP Alum Gabe Stone Shayer, performed by Shayer and YAGP alumna, ABT Principal Dancer Skylar Brandt. Shayer choreographed this piece as part of YAGP’s Emerging Choreographer Series.

19-year-old blind piano prodigy and composer from The Juilliard School, Matthew Whitaker, created and will perform the accompanying music. CBS 60 Minutes recently featured the piano prodigy, “Whitaker doesn’t just play music, he plays with it. Twisting melodies, crafting complex harmonies, and improvising at lightning speed. It’s acoustic acrobatics performed over 88 keys and it is not for the faint of heart.”

The evening will also include Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet will perform from their grand theater two duets; Maria Khoreva and Kimin Kim (YAGP Alum) performing a duet from Le Corsaire and May Nagahisa and Victor Caixeta (both YAGP Alumni) performing a duet from Romeo and Juliet.

Additionally, the Gala’s finale will include a compilation of the best performances from YAGP’s 2021 Season participants worldwide. YAGP is already half-way through its season of auditions which will include 13 countries and 22 cities in America. YAGP is the only major dance competition that has continued giving dancers a chance to dance live on stage throughout the pandemic, with live auditions currently taking place throughout the U.S. Strict health and safety measures were implemented in each city to make this a reality.

So don’t miss out on YAGP’s Virtual Gala.