YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX To Present Annual Gala and Finals At Lincoln Center

World's largest student ballet scholarship audition - YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX - returns to the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center to host its 2018 finals week in New York City. The week of ballet festivities will include the YAGP Final Round with performances by the world's most talented ballet students on April 18th, and the critically-acclaimed "Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow" Gala on April 19th.

YAGP FINAL ROUND (April 18, 2018 at 7pm) - This season, over 10,000 talented young dance students auditioned at semi-final rounds conducted by YAGP around the globe, and close to 1800 finalists will gather in New York in April, to audition for scholarships and contracts with the most prestigious ballet schools and companies in the world. The most promising Junior (12-14 y.o.) and Senior (15-19 y.o.) participants will perform in the Final Round, before the winners are chosen and they disperse around the world to study on scholarship at the world's leading dance academies (over $300,000 in scholarships are presented annually at YAGP) and receive contracts with some of the world's most renowned ballet companies. TICKETS: $25-$45, available at the David H. Koch Theater box office, at www.davidhkochtheater.com, or by 212.581.1212.

YAGP "STARS OF TODAY MEET THE STARS OF TOMORROW" GALA: (April 19, 2018 at 7pm) - The annually sold-out YAGP Gala features talented young finalists of YAGP 2018 Season onstage alongside international ballet stars. NBC's Hoda Kotb will welcome guests to this year's performance featuring Bolshoi Ballet Principal Dancer Olga Smirnova and Bolshoi Ballet Soloist Jacopo Tissi, in a Pas de Deux from Pharaoh's Daughter - one of Marius Petipa's most lavish ballets. Smirnova will also perform a World Premiere piece by Garrett Smith, who in 2016 received YAGP's "Outstanding Choreographer" award and went on to create this work as part of the Bolshoi Ballet's Young Choreographers Workshop. YAGP Alumna Alexandra Mukhamedov, Principal at Dutch National Ballet, and Constantine Allen, also a YAGP Alum, formerly a Principal Dancer at Stuttgart Ballet and currently First Soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, will each make their New York Professional debut, performing choreographer David Dawson's sweepingly romantic On the Nature of Daylight, set to music by Max Richter. Mariinsky Ballet Principal Dancer Kimin Kim, who joined the company after winning the Grand Prix award at YAGP in 2012, will perform the Pas de Deux from Don Quixote with American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer and YAGP Alumna Isabella Boylston. Making her New York Debut after winning first prize in the Women's Solo category at the 2017 Moscow International Ballet Competition, Evelina Godunova will perform the fiery variation from Laurencia. A piece de occasion will feature Principal Guest Artist Liubov Kazantseva in an aerial ballet performance. Joffrey Ballet dancers, Dylan Gutierrez and Jeraldine Mendoza - both YAGP Alumni - will perform the Final Pas de Deux from San Francisco Ballet resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov's "Bells" set to music by Rachmaninov. The program also includes Tres Hombres, originally premiered in March 2018 at YAGP's partner Gala de Danza in Los Cabos, and features New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht, multi-award-winning ballroom champion Denys Drozdyuk and So You Think You Can Dance Season 14 winner and YAGP Alum Lex Ishimoto. American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Daniil Simkin will grace the stage with Le Bourgeoise. This year's Gala will feature several remarkable musicians, including young piano protege Rosalia Vlaeva Malik, clarinetist Weixion Wang, world-renowned pianist Jorge Viladoms, award-winning pianist Vassily Primakov, electric violinist Sarah Charness, and drummer Caleb Spaulding. Artist and illustrator Hilary Knight, best known for co-creating the 'Eloise' books has created original illustrations that will be projected on stage during the Gala performance. Following the performance will be a Gala Dinner chaired by Amy Astley, Ashley Olsen, Mary Kate Olsen, Colby Mugrabi, Candice Jordan Miller, Marcella Guarino Hymowitz and Lesley Thompson Vecsler in the promenade of the David H. Koch Theater. At the Gala Dinner, the original Hillary Knight drawings will be auctioned off to benefit YAGP's educational efforts. TICKETS: Performance tickets $70, Gala tickets from $1,500 at www.davidhkochtheater.com and www.yagp.org.

YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX (YAGP) is the world's largest global dance network, connecting classically-trained students, teachers, schools, companies, alumni, sponsors, dancers and choreographers with audiences who share a distinct passion for and love of dance. YAGP annually awards more than $500,000 in scholarships from the leading dance schools worldwide. Since its founding in 1999, over 80,000 young dancers ages 9 to 19 of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds have participated in YAGP's international workshops, audition classes, and dance awareness events. Gifted dancers have earned over $3 million in scholarships to the leading dance schools. More than 300 YAGP alumni currently dance with 80 companies around the world including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and many others. For more information, call 646.465.5933 or visit www.yagp.org.

YAGP is proudly sponsored by Bloch, Capezio, Chacott/Freed, Dance Media (publishers of Dance, Pointe, Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit magazines), Discount Dance Supply, Gaynor Minden, Grishko, Harlequin Floors, Russian Pointe, and Sylvia Co.