Youth America Grand Prix

Paris, France

General

Reviewer

Dancer Age

Competition experience

Event Details

Round

Regional

Season

Location

Paris, France

Regionals attended

Rationale for multiple regionals

"I participated in the same competition multiple times."
"To show progress, and meet different judges"

Who encouraged multiple regionals

School Encouragement for Multiple Regionals

"It was a big competition, possibly offering a lot of opportunities."
"We did not need my encouragement, my daughter enjoyed the first and wanted to experience others. The goal was to show progress over time"

Entry affiliation

Did Dancer Miss School?

Days of school missed

Master Classes

Master Class Types

Master class teachers

"Guest teachers from the Paris opera ballet school and outside. Mostly big names from the dance industry, like Platel, but only for solist master classes (not for ensemble master classes)."
"Judges/ artistic stuff from big ballet schools"
"Era Jouravlev"
"José Carayol, Frederic Olivieri, Gennadi Saveliev"

Distance from venue

Received corrections

How corrections were given

"Some ballet masters were addressing group but she also received few individual corrections"
"Corrections were given to each individual when the teachers saw that something is not articulated properly"

What corrections were about

"They were about technique"
"They were polite and patient. The only time when they were a little irritated was when a girl started some kind of contortion instead of grand battement after the explanation"

Anatomical language

Correction tone

Teacher engagement

"When I was competing as a solist, these classes were very intense. Too many girls in the same room. The teacher only looked at and corrected the favourites, so you could already predict who was going to win the big prizes. I remember once, when I was like 12, the class was thaught by Jean Yves Guesquière (director of european school of ballet). He abruptly stopped an exercise and asked me for my name. I answerd and he proceeded to call me a totally different name (Paula) and then asked me to show the exercise. While I was showing him, he stopped me and asked the others to correct me. He ended this public humiliation by telling me to pay more attention to doing the right exercise. People from yagp regularly came into classes to film (of course only the dancers who were ‘worth it’ to be shown). Also after the classes, especially when a lot of the instafamous prodigies all came to Paris, there were fotoshoots for them in the POB building and they were put all over social media. I even remember when the videos of an instafamous girl were posted on youtube, talking about how amazing she was, even before the awards were given out (so you can already assume who was the big winner of the competition). Later, when I only competes as part of an ensemble group, I noticed that a lot less attention went out to us. I felt like we were seen and treated as lesser dancers just because we were not competing as a solist. Our masterclasses often were late at night and often almost no yagp staff was present, only the teachers who were visibly irritated that they had to teach ‘us amateurs’. I even remember when some girls of maybe 9 year old, didn’t know where their classes were so they walked into our class. Mind you this was a class for people older than 14, but nobt said something, not the teacher, not the staff."
"Ballet masters were engaged and very high energy"
"These were positive classes. The teachers were in front of students and walked around the room There were people with some tablets. They looked at the dancers and marked something. They also took pictures"
"This varies across the teachers, one wsd very engaged, the others less so"

Crowding

Really Crowded



Plenty of Room to Move

Master Class Feedback

Technique

Additional master class comments

"/"
"My daughter is always very impressed by masterclasses and takes them very seriously. Generally the classes are tough but interesting and allow her to highlight areas where she might need to work more etc"
"Classes were one of the best part of the whole experience and more important than the actual competition to the dancer. We attend Paris because we believe is the best venue in Europe"
"You don’t explain the rating above - am assuming A is best"

Performance Details

Venue name

"Théâtre Malreux"
"Théâtre André Malraux"
"Paris, Rueil-Malmaison, Theatre Andre Malraux"
"Theatre Beaulieu"

Venue description

"Quite an old building, but ok. Not enough space in the dressingrooms. Not enough dressingrooms to accomodate all the dancers, especially when there were group performances. We had to put our stuff behind a door in a hallway (where there was no passage), but our stuff was taken away by a security guard."
"The theatre is rather small so it is complicated to sit everyone for the awards ceremony but it is in a part of Paris near Opera and allows for a more calm atmosphere around - I understand the choice, despite space limitations"
"Nice and clean"
"We have been here three times, the theatre is okay, there is a practice space backstage, the floor of the stage is okay. The auditorium can become extremely crowded - one year I complained and left the final round to watch online outside as the venue was clearly in breach of fire safety regs"

Stage description

"Marley, not raked, the floor was ok, big stage"
"I don’t remember this detail - definitely no need for the modifications of the choreography"
"Comfortable dressing rooms. A little crowded. Professional ballet floor, big stage, not raked"
"I have no idea what marley is (am British - maybe explain this term). There is a very slight rake, floor a bit sticky. Space is okay for perfomance, didn’t need to modify, packed for open stage as usual."

Off-stage warm-up space

"Like said previously, there was not enough space, only one room with marley where you could practice, but so many people would be there that you actually disn’t have space."
"I am not too sure, some dancers were warming up in corridors. But mostly backstage"
"It was cold for the dancer. Enough space for warm-up"
"This space is pretty good, a large studio backstage which can be accessed and used through the competition."

Dressing rooms

"The dressing rooms were mixed, but also appointed by the organisation based on the dance school."
"I don’t know"
"I am not sure if there were male dancers changing rooms"
"Paris gets a variable number of boys, it is not huge but sometimes there aren’t many boys (say 10-15 in total) so for that number it is suitable."

Male dressing room

Onstage warm-up

"Open stage was very hectic. No space to move really. Groups had one minute per dance to practice alone on stage."
"Open stage is a bit of a battle field"
"Parents are not allowed backstage. As if the dancer was 10, and independent, they let inside a parent to help. For junior category it was not an option."
"Open stage is almost useless. You can get a sense of where the lights are, what the floor surface is, the wings, drop at the front but you can’t really get any dancing done and can’t block as there are too many people on stage, some with teachers."

Schedule adherence

Other schedule comments

"I feel that delays or running ahead of the schedule is communicated well"
"The first year when my son competed as a junior there were quite a few clashes between performances and classes, as a senior it is a bit better. The lateness of schedule publication makes planning hard."

Staff communication

"Ok but mostly via instagtam"
"I felt very impressed by the level of interest on behalf of the staff. They seem to really try to match dancers with potential big schools."
"No communication."
"We are used to it now but for anyone new, communication can be confusing, incomplete, last minute and sporadic."

Judging

Judging rubric clarity

Judges' attentiveness

Feedback turnaround

Type of Feedback

Feedback helpfulness

Not Helpful At All



Extremely Helpful

Main takeaway

"Dancers who were not exceptional prodigies weren’t even looked at by the judges. They randomly wrote stuff on the sheets if they thought you were not worth their attention. From the audience tou could see them on their phones or talking to each other during performances. The feedback that you did get was not helpfull: a score and a few words."
"Positive encouragement and specific corrections"
"Coded language from some of the judges and some positive words from 1 of them"
"No coded language, but feedback is generic and pretty useless"

Scoring felt fair

Why Scoring Unfair?

"I feel like these big famous dancers were all brought here to compete and to yet again win all the big prizes and get all the attention. I honeslt don’t understand why these kids who have already won everything and who are handed every opportunity are allowed to compete yet again."
"There were more than 8-10 points difference between some of the judges scores. The lowest was without any comments."
"Having now watched a lot of yagps I don’t think it is a genuine competition. It is an important organisation but it does not g around the world finding the best ballet talent."

Awards & Scholarships

Awards ceremony

"Very long, especially the announcement of all the studios."
"I feel that there is a lof of excitement and it is truly a big moment for dancers and parents."
"It was ok. They presented all nations."
"It is always very late to start, quite chaotic, long and to be honest a bit depressing, as it is almost always the same kids - the ones with large social media followings - who get awarded the scholarshios."

Won an award or training offer

Festival offer

Gala offer

Invited to finals

Award or Training Offer Description

"My daughter received many invitations for short term scholarships. She was genuinely very excited and tried to attend as many as possible. Eg. winter intensive at Princess Grace (Monaco), short term at European School of Ballet (Amsterdam), summer intensive invitation to Italy"
"Top 12 classical and contemporary Summer intensive in MOSA ballet school."
"He has won quite a few over the past three years (Oslo, Mosa, La Scala, Royal Ballet) but we have never been able to take them up because of cost. We save all year to attend Paris yagp and don’t have funds for any other travel and accommodation."

Festival offer details

"My daughter received an invitation to attend the summer intensive with a partial scholarship. She absolutely loved it and would like to go again."
"Malta. She did not attend, so we do not know the cost"

Gala offer details

"He was invited to Nervi, in its last year. The course was free."

Final Comments

Best aspect

"It can offer great opportunities for some people."
"The exerience - the whole process from preparation for the competition to managing energy on the day and showcasing what you have worked on while cheering on your friends."
"It was in Paris. The classes were held in Paris Opera ballet school with some of the best known teachers."
"Seeing the level your peers are at. The UK is quite behind in ballet training so it is really useful to see the level other dancers are at. The master classes can be good too."

Worst aspect

"I just remember it as a very intense, toxic and unfair competition where some dancers are put on a pedestole while all the other dancers are looked down upon."
"The inevitable disapointement of friends that do not reach their goals and above all their parents that seem to be more affected at times."
"Notmal"
"It feels fixed from the start. In the final round my son was asked to dance the lower scoring of his two variations which we didn’t understand."

Competition culture

"Toxic, intense, favoritism"
"I think that yagp is clearly trying to find talented kids and match them with potential schools - this won’t be everyone as not everyone will go on to be professional. However I feel that the atmosphere is very encouraging and applauds real effort, and motivated dancers to work hard"
"Normal"
"Yagp in general has quite an exclusive in-crowd feel. There are those few favoured kids who are loved by yagp, win everything, get the scholarships and go all over their social media. These aren’t always the kids who performed the best. My son was looked up and down and asked his shoe size when talking with yagp staff about vocational schools. This isn’t what ballet is about."

Attendee culture

"Intense, competitive"
"There is a high concentration of talent and as such it will be intimidating at times, however, I have never heard of any disrespect."
"Normal"
"On the whole the kids are quite nice, some can be very competitive. I think it is much easier being a boy."

Suggested changes

"Give all dancers opportunities"
"I guess an extra warm up studio that schools could use or book would be great."
"Free tickets for parents"
"I think it should decide if it is actually about ballet (and in which case needs to overhaul its judging) or whether it is a PR vehicle for young rich dancers, in which case it can probably just stay as it is, but parents and teachers and most importantly ballet students need to know this so they don’t think their future is doomed if they don’t place."

Cost vs. expectation

Significantly More


Significantly Less

Time worth it

Not Worth It



Worth Every Minute

Overall rating

Anything else?

"/"
"I feel that you need to go in for the experience and understand that inherently any judging will be a little subjective - it is arts afterall not athletics. Results will depen on so many aspects - is the variation choice a good one for your dancer, does it showcase his/her strengths etc"
"No"
"Learning and preparing variations is a really important and enjoyable part of a dancer’s training and this is a huge benefit of taking part."