Looking Forward

In times of rapid change, predicting the road ahead can seem to be a fool’s errand. But on a spring afternoon at Lincoln Center, I feel confident in this assertion: the future of dance is very bright.

Performance

Youth America Grand Prix International Dance School Festival

Place

David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, New York, NY, April 18, 2026

Words

Rebecca Deczynski

Maria Vittoria Bandini of La Scala Ballet Academy in Mario Pistoni’s “La Strada.” Photograph by Luke Kwo

The Youth America Grand Prix’s annual International Dance School Festival brought students from across the world—China, Germany, Monaco, and more—and the U.S. to showcase their still-budding talent through repertoire new and old. Just a few days after YAGP’s annual gala, where the dance competition’s participants performed between international principals, the students (and a few YAGP alums) got the full run of the show.

That started with “Pièce D’Occasion,” an “Études”-inspired number that also opened the earlier YAGP gala, with 120 dancers—girls in white platter tutus and boys in black tights and white t-shirts—moving through a glossary of ballet phrases. They tendu, brisé, piqué, and jeté in various formations and groupings. It is more an exercise than a show of artistry.

There is ample artistry, however, in Maria Vittoria Bandini of La Scala Ballet Academy, who performs the pas de deux from Mario Pistoni’s “La Strada” with her partner Michele Forghieri. Inspired by the 1954 Fellini film, the work is heavy on the acting (requiring, even, a wig), but Bandini carries off the dreaminess and childish idiosyncrasies of the role with gusto. The dancers make a strong match, too—sailing through the kinds of lifts and supported movements you might expect to see in an ice dancing routine, rather than on the stage.

Houston Ballet II keeps up the energy with a work by artistic director Stanton Welch. “A Dance in the Garden of Mirth” is an evocative ensemble piece set to Dufay Collective’s album of the same name, which features bagpipes, flutes, and a number of medieval instruments. The choreography and costuming, however, are hard to place in time. The girls sweep up their long skirts like flamenco dancers, and occasionally, the ensemble moves in a petit allegro that—maybe due to the ongoing bagpipes—seems to evoke Irish step dance. It’s entertaining, if hard to place.

Two classic pas de deux follow and give the students ample opportunity to showcase their sharp technique and budding artistry. Nanoha Shigeoka and Ivan Malaguti of the Royal Ballet School perform Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody,” a dreamy, Rachmaninoff-set work that lingers in airy lifts and musically precise beats. This is the kind of piece in which more seasoned dancers might find the space to stretch a nanosecond longer or reach a little higher, but the students still present a graceful performance.

San Francisco Ballet School’s Crystal Huang in “Flames of Paris” by Vasily Vainonen. Photograph by Luke Kwo

With “Flames of Paris,” San Francisco Ballet School’s Crystal Huang (who, with 104k Instagram followers, is already a rising star in the dance world) and Princess Grace Academy’s Denis Watanabe put on a showstopper. Huang is most confident during, ostensibly, the hardest part of the pas de deux—an extended fouetté sequence. And Watanabe is a veritable tour de force, effortlessly on his leg during endless pirouettes and practically levitating in his jumps. It’s easy to feel excited about the future of ballet when watching these two school-age dancers move with such technical excellence.

The YAGP International Contemporary Ensemble performs Sharon Eyal’s “Into the Hairy” in excerpt next, taking on the choreographer’s organic, pacing, alien-like gestures with earnestness. It’s undoubtedly a challenging piece, striking in its subtleties.

Four dancers—from the John Cranko School of the Stuttgart Ballet, Beijing Dance Academy, Royal Ballet School, and Zurich Dance Academy, close the first act with Anton Dolin’s “Variations for Four,” a jaunty piece that begins with the dancers wrapped in black cloaks, before they walk forward in princely fashion. It shares similarities with the “Études”-inspired first number, giving each dancer an opportunity to show off a special skill (a tour en l’air into a pirouette; jetés en manège), but only after such rudimentary moves as assemblé and tour jeté, as a group. While the work lacks the bravado of Watanabe’s “Flames of Paris,” it’s still a finely danced piece, which might benefit from a touch more risk-taking.

Dragos Gramada and William Gyves of the Zurich Dance Academy in Ihsan Rustem’s “After Glass.” Photograph by Luke Kwo

After intermission, we get two pas de deux that could not be more different in style and tone. Samantha Striplin and Malaguti of the Royal Ballet School put on a neat take of “Grand Pas Classique,” with ample poise and long, lovely lines all around. Then, Dragos Gramada and William Gyves of the Zurich Dance Academy debut Ihsan Rustem’s “After Glass,” a contemporary work set to a mashup by Jonas Crabtree of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Philip Glass’s “Violin Concerto No. 1.” Dressed in baggy trousers and socks, the dancers pulsate and contract their torsos; it’s like a physical embodiment of wailing. Most striking are the ways they support one another, holding up a leg or carrying the other along their back. The work is indulgent in expressiveness.

Dancers from American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School perform a Mendelssohn-set work by ABT corps member Melvin Lawovi, “Italian Symphony.” The short, bright pink tutus the girls wear are an unfortunate distraction from what is otherwise a pleasant, if predictable piece, full of neat lines, sautés and piqués.

So, when Bandini returns to the stage to put on an excerpt from Mauro Bigonzetti’s “Rossini Cards”—practically rolling her eyes to the audience in the attitude-filled solo, the change in tempo is well received. In this percussive piece, and earlier in “La Strada,” this young dancer shows a precocious willingness to go bold.

Princess Grace Academy’s Utako Takeda and ABT Studio Company’s Daniel Alejandro Guzman in “Le Corsaire.” Photograph by Luke Kwo

The Rock School’s entry, while a crowd-pleaser, is a missed opportunity to show off its students’ stylistic and technical abilities. “Four Swans” by Itzik Galili—a sketch-comedy style take on the little swans of “Swan Lake”—tries to pack in punchlines every 16 bars or so, giving us just a hint of the dancers’ talent. (Mostly, we are meant to laugh at the hijinks of the one outcast swan.)

The following two pas de deux, however, refocus the program. The Royal Ballet School’s Shigeoka returns, this time with partner Millán De Benito, to perform De Benito’s own work, “Anima Mea.” It’s a more aerobic piece, for which Shigeoka trades her lyricism for a sharper, more playful attack. De Benito, too, is buoyant, particularly in his jumps.

Two of the strongest pieces of the night close the program. First, Princess Grace Academy’s Utako Takeda and ABT Studio Company’s Daniel Alejandro Guzman take on the act two pas de deux from “Le Corsaire,” both blooming with joy. Guzman, in particular, is a delight to watch—confident in his power and control as he swings into an ambitious saut de basque.

And finally, students of the John Cranko School put on “All Long Dem Day” by Marco Goecke, which is even better the second time around, after it was performed at the YAGP gala. The frantic work, which is heavy on detailed, fast arm choreography and percussive accents has echoes of Fosse, meaning: it requires an immense amount of precision to pull off. The John Cranko students aren’t merely up to the task—they nail it. The work’s final moments, one solo dancer drifting his arms up to the crash of a cymbal, was an effective mic drop.

Rebecca Deczynski

Rebecca Deczynski is a New York City-based writer and editor publishes the newsletter Mezzanine Society. Her work has appeared in publications including Inc., Domino, NYLON, and InStyle. She graduated from Barnard College cum laude with a degree in English and a minor in dance.

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