Young & Beautiful 2024
Life is made up of fleeting moments that we can never get back, that can never be recreated, and can never be held. I think that is the beauty of ballet, that after a performance, the ballet itself dies, disappears, and even if it is recorded, it isn’t the same. There just isn’t the same feeling, the same intoxicating rush, the excitement around you, etc. Yes, that is the best way to describe the 2024 Youth America Grand Prix finals at Lincoln Center. Everywhere you turned, young dancers full of excitement and hope. Thousands of young people sharing their passion, and pursuing the same goal. That is one of the beautiful aspects of the Youth America Grand Prix.
I started taking portraits at YAGP Finals in 2018 at the Empire Hotel. The trip was funded by you my readers, specifically two who want to remain anonymous, and on an overcast day in April, young talented dancers from around the United States, their parents, and their tutu bags huddled into my very tiny, very cramped room at the Empire Hotel. The talent included Bel Pickering (Prix Candidate, Royal Ballet School Graduate, Sarasota Ballet), Lily Turner (The Makarova Award Winner), Jolie Rose (Stuttgart Ballet), Tia Wenkman (Royal Ballet School Graduate), Ava Arbuckle (Stuttgart Ballet), Kaeli Ware (Ballet West), Remie Goins (HB 2), Kali Kleinman (PNB), Brady Farrar (ABT STUCO), Joel Dichter (Aalto Ballett), Misha Broderick, and Madyson Grobe. In six years, all of these young talented dancers have aged out of the Youth America Grand Prix, and started their professional ballet careers.
In 2019, the pandemic hit, and YAGP Finals moved to Tampa in 2020 where, I began to take pictures on the step of the Le Meridian Hotel. What started out to be portraits turned into epic dance shots, not really my favorite to shoot, but I shot them anyways.
Fast forward to 2024, and the return to Lincoln Center and was able to capture so many talented young kids from around the world. It is special because, these moments, are going to be looked back at as just a memory. Their aspirations at that moment, looking out at Lincoln Center, things that one dreams about. Things that these young dancers want so bad it is almost tangible. And here, is the 2024 Editorial: Young & Beautiful.
Owen Simmons, Hope Award Winner (2024), Cadence Ballet
Izzy, Elite Classical Coaching — Pharaoh’s Daughter
Maddux, Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet
Maddux (Senior Final Round), Crystal (2nd), Ginevra (Senior Final Round)
Alisa and Leon, Southland Ballet Academy
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