On International Dance Day, the Stars of Today Met the Stars of Tomorrow to Celebrate YAGP
Among the VIP-charged parties we didn’t get around to gushing about last week was the 2025 Youth America Grand Prix gala—The Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow—which, in a perfect pirouette of providence, took place on this year’s International Dance Day. As always, the evening unfolded in glittering, glamorous form, overseen this time by TV personality Andy Cohen (whom someone that night apparently dubbed “the Baryshnikov of Bravo”) and YAGP alumna, choreographer and former ABT dancer Melanie Hamrick—the fact that she’s Mick Jagger’s fiancée probably deserves a mention.
Unfolding first in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the evening honored Sarah Hoover, the arts advocate and former gallerist whose devotion to cultural leadership and next-gen talent has become her calling card. In brief: she co-founded ABT’s Accelerator Committee and fundraises tirelessly for everything from Twyla Tharp’s Diamond Jubilee tour to the New York City Ballet, though you might be more familiar with Hoover, the author. “Sarah is devoted to ballet and the arts,” Hamrick told the crowd before turning toward Hoover and adding, “Sarah, I am proud to call you a friend.”
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Among those there to celebrate The Motherload author and to support YAGP were boldface types like Chelsea Clinton, who arrived with two of her children and needs no introduction, designer Zac Posen, actor and writer Harrison Ball, former Observer columnist and Sex in the City creator Candace Bushnell, Jagger progeny Lucas Jagger, star editor Amy Astley, arts philanthropist Andrew Martin-Webber and producer Jenni Pulos, among many others.
But the performers were the real stars of the evening: Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding debuted a U.S. premiere choreographed by Golding and Edwaard Liang, while Germain Louvet and Hannah O’Neill of the Paris Opera Ballet performed Le Parc by Angelin Preljocaj. O’Neill returned with Friedemann Vogel of the Stuttgart Ballet for a pas de deux from Onegin, and Louvet reappeared solo with a variation from Swan Lake. Yana Peneva, Stuttgart’s newest soloist, made her New York debut in Le Corsaire with daniil simkin, while ABT Studio Company stars Kayla Mak and Max Barker brought Balanchine’s Tarantella to life. Xin Peng Wang, in his final season leading Ballet Dortmund, unveiled a world premiere danced by Samuel Bassler and Daria Suzi. And Isaiah Day delivered a new work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, paired with a live original score by Matthew Whitaker. The YAGP International Contemporary Ensemble, as always, closed the program, giving the assembled dance devotees a peek at tomorrow’s rising talent.
“This is an incredible honor by such a meaningful organization to the world of dance,” Hoover said over dinner. “I want to explain how deep my love of dance is. As a young girl growing up in Indiana, I did not have a ton of access to culture. But I did have incredible dance training, and I went to summer programs at ABT and elsewhere. I remember the impact of watching Glass Pieces, a Jerome Robbins ballet with music by Philip Glass. It was totally different than anything I’d ever seen. It changed the trajectory of my life: where I would live and what I would be dedicated to doing. I see dancers and ballet as showing us a more empathetic and expansive way forward in the world, and for that, they are my idols forever.”
And, once again, the YAGP’s Pointe Project returned with seventeen custom pairs of out-of-this-world ballet slippers embellished by artists and designers, including a pair of black sequin shoes by TWP, a glittery silver and black pair by Michael Kors and a pink, embroidered pair by LoveShackFancy. Our favorite? Artist Fer Da Silva’s street-art-inspired addition with “What you call sacrifice, I call love” inked on the insole. That said, the petite slippers that sparkled in their gold-and-glass display were just a wee bit overshadowed by a striking larger-than-life pointe shoe covered in dazzling disco balls and fresh spring flowers. Overshadowed in the best possible way, that is.