NGB wins Outstanding School at Tampa YAGP semi-final

Congratulations to all of our dancers who competed in the recent semi-final Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) competition in Tampa.

Olivia Gusti, Grand Prix winner at the
YAGP Tampa semi-final competition.
Photo by SOHO Images.

The Patel Conservatory is proud to announce that Next Generation Ballet (NGB) was named “Outstanding School” and NGB trainee Olivia Gusti was named “Grand Prix winner” at the competition, which took place Jan. 3 - 5 at the Straz Center.

“We are so proud of our students and instructors and appreciate this recognition from YAGP,” said Wendy Leigh, Straz Center vice president of education.

NGB beat out 48 other schools for the Outstanding School title. And Gusti competed against hundreds of other dancers to win YAGP’s highest honor. Approximately 350 dancers came from all over Florida and six other states for the two-day competition.

Gusti, 15, was also recently selected for the prestigious Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland.

YAGP is the largest student ballet competition in the world and screens more than 5,000 dance students internationally in regional competitions. Gusti and other top dancers will go on to compete in the finals in New York City on April 9 for the chance to win scholarships and job offers from professional dance companies.

NGB students who also placed in the competition:

• First place Classical Jr. Men: Jordan Martinez
• First place Classical Jr. Women: Florrie Geller
• Top 12 Classical Jr. Women: Geller, Courtney Gunsteens, Chandler Hammond, Janaya Zimmerman
• Top 6 Classical Jr. Men: Liam Boswell, Neal Burks, Martinez
• Third place Contemporary Jr. Women: Geller 
• Comtemporary Top 12 Jr. Women: Geller, Hammond, Zimmerman
• First place Contemporary Jr. Men: Liam Boswell
• Second place Contemporary Jr. Men: Martinez
• Contemporary Top 6 Jr. Men: Boswell, Martinez 
• Second place Classical Sr. Female: Stanford
• Second place Classical Sr. Male: Tanner Bleck
• Second place Pas de Deux – Claire Ashcraft and Ethan Fuller
• Third place Classical Sr. Men: Fuller
• Classical Top 12 Sr. Men: Bleck, Jarod Curley, Fuller, John Hewitt, Christopher Kunzelmann, Corbin Panturad
• Classical Top 12 Sr. Women: Lexa Armstrong, Brittany Broussard, Gusti, Hannah Stanford
• Contemporary Top 12 Sr. Women: Claire Ashcraft, Gusti, Alexandria Marx
• Second place Contemporary Dance Sr. Men: Fuller
• Contemporary Top 12 Sr. Men: Bleck, Curley, Fuller, Hewitt, Kunzelmann 

Congratulations to the following daners who qualified to participate in the YAGP finals in New York City in April:

Olivia Gusti

Jordan Martinez

Florrie Geller

Courtney Gunsteens

Chandler Hammond

Janaya Zimmerman

Tanner Bleck

Ethan Fuller

Hannah Stanford