Youth America Grand Prix

Kansas City, MO

General

Reviewer:

Parent with Dancer Input

Dancer Age:

Competition experience:

6-10

Event Details

Round:

Regional

Season:

2025-26

Location:

Kansas City, MO

Traveled to compete:

Yes

Regional was the closest:

Why this location:

Our ballet school chose this location

Regionals attended:

Rationale for multiple regionals:

My dancer thought it was helpful to hear different feedback from the various judges at each location. She felt she improved with her stage presence and technique with each regional she attended.

Who encouraged multiple regionals:

By the School & Competition Staff

Competition Encouragement for Multiple Regionals:

They wanted our dancer to get more performance opportunities. They wanted her to get more comfortable under high pressure circumstances.

School Encouragement for Multiple Regionals:

Same answer as last question

Entry affiliation:

School

Rules Easy to Access?

Yes

Did Dancer Miss School?

Yes

Days of school missed:

Attended master classes:

Yes

Master Classes

Master Class Types:

Technique, Contemporary

Master class teachers:

Erica Fischbah from Colorado ballet and she doesn’t remember who taught contemporary but thinks it was Alicia Holloway

Distance from venue:

Less than five miles away

Received corrections:

Yes

How corrections were given:

The corrections were mostly general to the group but they definitely favored focusing on students they knew and have won in the past.

What corrections were about:

My dancer said her ballet master teacher, Ms Fischbach, encouraged the students to condition for ballet outside of class. She gave them a conditioning warm-up at the beginning of the ballet master class as an example of what to do. She had them do planks, arm circles and crunches before they started their technique class.

Anatomical language:

Yes

Correction tone:

Positive

Teacher engagement:

Both instructors were walking around actively correcting the students. They definitely seemed present and excited to teach!

Crowding:


Really Crowded	Plenty of Room to Move

Master Class Feedback

Technique:

Contemporary:

Additional master class comments:

I would have given Contemporary a B if I’d had room to move in the class. It was really cramped for rolling on the floor and for extensions.

Performance Details

Venue name:

Folly Theater in Kansas City

Venue description:

The Folly is a beautiful historic theater! The space is the cramped for both parents and students. The lobby is small and gets crowded to the point people are touching back to back. The theater didn’t have enough space for all parents to watch the award ceremony. The students didn’t have much dressing room or warm-up space.

Stage description:

We had to select variations that don’t require traveling turns or jumps as the stage is small. The stage did have Marley floor.

Off-stage warm-up space:

We had to warm-up at the hotel prior due to lack of space backstage.

Dressing rooms:

There were mirrors and lights in the dressing rooms. There wasn’t much space so dancers were stepping on each other’s tutu bags.

Parents in dressing rooms:

Male dressing room:

Yes

Parents backstage:

Onstage warm-up:

Open stage was super crowded due to the small stage. I couldn’t do any extensions or jumps full-out.

Schedule adherence:

Tended to mostly run on time

Other schedule comments:

N/A

Staff communication:

They posted schedule changes to their Instagram as well as sent parents texts if you had signed up for the text updates.

Parent seminar offered:

Judging

Judging rubric clarity:

Judges' attentiveness:

Yes, all judges were actively watching

Feedback turnaround:

More than a week after the competition

Type of Feedback:

Numerical scores, Brief written feedback

Feedback helpfulness:


Not Helpful At All	Extremely Helpful

Main takeaway:

It seemed as if the number scoring was completely subjective and random. Would help to understand why judges picked these seemingly random numbers! My dancer did get short feedback that was helpful in preparing for her next regional.

Scoring felt fair:

Yes

Awards & Scholarships

Awards ceremony:

Well we couldn’t watch the award ceremony because of lack of seating. My student enjoys the award ceremony! She enjoys cheering her friends on and standing on stage with her school.

Won an award or training offer:

Festival offer:

Gala offer:

Invited to finals:

Award or Training Offer Description:

None

Final Comments

Best aspect:

The best aspects are performance experience. My student is at a company-affiliated school so doesn’t get many opportunities to perform aside from Nutcracker and the Spring Show.

Worst aspect:

There seems to be favoritism for people they already know.

Competition culture:

Very professional staff and judges.

Attendee culture:

We overheard other competitors laughing and making fun of dancers from both backstage and inside the theater.

Suggested changes:

A clear rubric for scoring instead of random subjective numbers. I clear path to finals and galas.

Cost vs. expectation:


Significantly More	Significantly Less

Time worth it:


Not Worth It	Worth Every Minute

Overall rating:

Anything else?

This competition is a great experience if you look at it as an addition to your training. My dancer loves preparing for the competitions as much as she loves performing at them!