Ballet auditions in Johannesburg for Youth America Grand Prix 2014
South African dancer, Kathleen Videira, has competed in both the YAGP and the Cape Town International Ballet Competition. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.
For aspiring young ballet dancers wanting to follow in Michaela DePrince or Joan Sebastian Zamora’s grand jeté steps – two dancers who excelled at the Youth America Grand Prix competition, as seen in the movie First Position – you’ll want to be at Montecasino in Johannesburg for South African auditions on Sunday 30 June.
The next Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) takes place in New York between 3 and 11 April 2014 and is one of the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competitions, awarding over $250 000 annually in scholarships to leading dance schools worldwide.
Ballet competition details:
The competition is open to dance students of all nationalities between the ages of 9 and 19 years old.
The auditions are not open to the general public, and will take the form of a classical ballet class to be given by Gennadi Saveliev, a former dancer of the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet.
Gennadi and Larissa Saveliev launched the Youth America Grand Prix in 1999, with a mission to provide extraordinary educational and professional opportunities to young dancers and act as a stepping stone to a professional dance career.
Watch Gennadi Saveliev in action in this short video clip, where he danced a special performance for So You Think You Can Dance…
Now preparing for its 15th Season, YAGP has awarded over $2 million in scholarships to leading dance schools around the world and over 300 YAGP alumni are now dancing with 50 ballet companies, including New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, among others.
Audition details:
If you can see yourself competing in New York in April next year, then make sure to register yourself for the audition in Johannesburg at the end of June.
Date: Sunday, 30 June 2013 at 10am
Venue: Teatro at Montecasino, Johannesburg
Registration information: For more information or to register for the Johannesburg auditions, contact Jonathan Hurwitz on 011 877 6901 or jonathan@samzansiballet.com. You can also learn more about the competition on the YAGP website here.
And here’s one more video to enjoy – this one has some great backstage and onstage footage featuring dancers in the junior division (ages 12 to 14) at the 2012 YAGP finals.
Category: Dance News
