The YAGP

One of my younger students, who is thinking about doing the YAGP next year, asked me, "Is it really like the movie, 'First Position'?" I said, yes, pretty much, except for this: The movie used the dramatic hook of making the competition very important for a dancer's career. That's only partly true. If you get a job, or a scholarship, great! If you don't, if you don't do well, or if you do horribly, no one remembers. It's a win/win situation. The only dancers people/judges remember are the ones who do well. If you're in an audition later on, and you're doing great, they're not going to say, "Yes, you look good, today, but three years ago, in the YAGP, you missed those Italian fouettés so we don't want you." Even if you don't place well, you may get something. One of my students got a partial scholarship to the Bolshoi School in New York, because they saw potential. Franco De Vita of ABT said he looks for what dancers will be, not what they are. Dmitri Kulev, in the documentary, was consoling a dancer, saying, "It's a live performance, things happen." So, if you want to do the YAGP, know that it's not the day that matters, it's the work.

See you in class.