Remember These Names: The 2017 YAGP Winners
The Youth America Grand Prix has a knack for finding ballet’s big names of tomorrow, and the latest crop of potential stars has arrived. At the end of last week, the winners of YAGP’s New York City finals were announced with many dancers taking home scholarships to schools worldwide.
If you follow the competition circuit, you may be familiar with several of these names, but Pointe readers will definitely recognize Lauren Hunter, who came in third place for females in the senior age division. That’s an impressive feat for any young dancer, but it’s not the first prize Hunter has taken home this year. In our current April/May issue, we followed her throughout her journey at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, where she advanced to the final round. (Spoiler alert: She won fifth place and a scholarship to The Royal Ballet School.)
Check out the winners, and make a mental note of their names. In a few years, they’ll likely be popping up in programs and company rosters.
Grand
Prix (not awarded)
Senior Women
1st, Gloria Benaglia (USA)
2nd, Chloe Misseldine (USA)
Senior Men
1st, Taro Kurachi (USA)
2nd, Jun Young Yang (South Korea)
3rd (Tie), Jan Spunda (Czech Republic)
3rd (Tie), Yuedong Sun (China)
Madison Penney (USA)
Junior Women
1st, Hanna Park (South Korea)
2nd, Viola Pantuso (USA)
3rd (Tie), Jordan Coutts (USA)
3rd (Tie), Juliette Bosco (USA)
Junior Men
1st, Takumi Miyake (Japan)
2nd, Lazaro Corrales (Canada)
3rd, Darrion Sellman (USA)
Shelley King Award for Excellence
Remie Madeleine Goins
Grishko Award
Sophia Vance
The Outstanding Artistry Award
Jan Spunda
Natalia Makarova Award
Elisabeth Beyer
Outstanding School Award
Academia Annarella
For a full list of all the winners and the schools they represented, click here.
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