Youth America Grand Prix 2019 Celebration

L-R Sergey Gordeev, Larissa Saveliev, Fateev, Laura Lobdell, Xander Parish

"Beautiful things are naturally attracted to each other. It's only natural that beautiful people flock to this beautiful house and hostess," said Youth America Grand Prix's Sergei Gordeev as he thanked jewelry designer Laura Lobdell and her husband, who graciously opened their TriBeCa duplex to the Mariinsky Ballet company and nearly 80 guests including Larissa Saveliev, founder and artistic director of YAGP. The hostess, noted for her champagne-inspired gold and silver jewelry, lived up to her reputation with cases of bubbly on hand as well as mini-knishes from Lower East Side baker Yonah Schimmel. “For the past 20 years Youth American Grand Prix," Gordeev continued, "has made it it's business to travel the world, find the most talented young people we could possibly find all over the planet and make it, help them get to the companies like the Mariinsky and mare than 30 other companies around the world where Youth America Grand Prix dancers are dancing at the world's largest scholarship audition." 

Guests included all eight of the Mariinsky dancers visiting from St. Petersburg including the recently knighted Xander Parish, OBE and the director of the Mariinsky Ballet, Yuri Fateev, the evening's guest of honor.  Also there were ABT dancers Skylar Brandt, Patrick Frenette, Connor Holloway, Calvin Royal III, Hee Seo, Gabe Stone Shayer, and Christine Shevchenko, as well as ballet lovers Maria-Cristina Anzola, Delin Bru, Marie de Foucaud and Renaud de Tilly, Peter Hay Halpert, Krystn Hammond, Kristina Allegra Kingston, Michèle Gerber Klein, Susan Leslie, Helen Marx, Roxanne Motamedi, Wendy Perron, Cole Rumbough and Emily Mohr, Irene Shen, Benny Tabatabai, and Adrienne and Gianluigi Vittadini, plus devoted YAGP board members Suzanne Dance, Judith M. Hoffman, and Richard Osterweil.

Youth America Grand Prix is the largest global network of dance with more than 10,000 young dancers – ages 9 to 19 – auditioning annually. 450 Youth America Grand Prix alumni are now dancing with 80 professional companies around the world. 100 of these alumni are soloists and principal dancers. YAGP fulfills its mission through scholarship auditions, master classes, alumni services, performances, educational and outreach activities. On April 16, 2020, YAGP will host its annual Gala at Lincoln Center. 

Photos by John Sanderson/AnnieWatt.com