Health & Fitness
Four Maryland Youth Ballet Dancers Honored at Professional Competition
Four local youth dancers from Maryland Youth Ballet in Silver Spring, place at prestigious ballet competition.
Maryland Youth Ballet Takes Eight Dancers to Semi-Finals of Youth America Grand Prix: Four Receive Top Honors
By Courtney Shirley
Four Maryland Youth Ballet students receive honors after an intense worldwide dance competition weekend at the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) semi-finals in Philadelphia January 12 and 13.
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Liam Doherty was in the top six men for Contemporary and Nathaniel Remez placed in the top six for men in Classical. Elena Danos was among the top 12 women for Contemporary and Sophie Doyle received honorary mention for Classical.
“Larissa Saveliev, the founder of YAGP, was particularly impressed with the young men of MYB,” said Maryland Youth Ballet Principal Michelle Lees, who choreographed and accompanied the dancers to the competition. “Many also commented on the excellence of MYB training.”
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The Maryland Youth Ballet, a non-profit dance institution currently training more than 1,600 students age 2 to 80+, was thrilled to have the highest number of its competitors yet - four boys and four girls, participate in the competition.
Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is the largest student ballet scholarship competition in the world. It awards more than $250,000 annually to winning dancers in scholarships to leading dance schools worldwide.
In previous years MYB has won awards for Best Teacher and for Best School.
The semi-finals are held annually around the world – this season in Brazil, France and Japan – and in 12 cities across the US.
For more information on the America Grand Prix, visit www.YAGP.org
ABOUT MARYLAND YOUTH BALLET
Since 1971, the mission of MYB has been to provide the highest caliber of training and performance opportunities to prepare young dancers for a career in the performing arts as well as to provide classes to dancers of all ages and levels in the community.
The MYB children’s program puts deliberate emphasis on pre-professional achievement with each level carefully crafted to provide the most comprehensive training and coaching in order to produce the high quality dancer that MYB is known for. MYB alumni are currently performing with such notable companies as American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Oregon Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Orlando Ballet, among others.
The MYB adult program, spanning levels from basic beginner through advanced, enjoys the same faculty as the children’s program, offering our adults the finest teachers of ballet, stretch, and classical core conditioning in the region.
MYB currently has more than 850 children and youth enrolled in its programs plus more than 700 adults taking classes weekly.
For more information about MYB visit: www.marylandyouthballet.org
To make a charitable donation please contact MYB’s Executive Director Alyce Jenkins at the Maryland Youth Ballet, 926 Ellsworth Drive Silver Spring, MD 20910 or call 301.608.2232.
