This month, we attended the Youth America Grand Prix which has its World’s Largest Ballet Scholarship Competition for their 2026 Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow Gala at David H. Koch Theater in NYC. This event began with a VIP Cocktail hour during Golden Hour as we waited for the performances.

After cocktail hour, we made our way into the theater and for nearly 2 hours, we were able to enjoy young talent, up and coming stars, as well as noted ballerinas! The evening was hosted by Misty Copeland who was joined on stage by Tamar Greene, who is currently the longest running George Washington in Hamilton!

After their remarks, we were treated to a number of performances with our favorite being Rainbow which was choreographed by Melanie Hamrick and was set to She’s A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones with a special arrangement for this performance by Melanie’s partner, Mick Jagger! The performance was done by Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III of the American Ballet Theatre. Their outfits were created by Rebecca Hessel Cohen, Founder and Creative Director of LoveShackFancy and was such a moment. There was also a phenomenal performance of Carmen with 3 male ballet dancers, which was a great performance.

At the conclusion of this portion of the night, we made our way back to the cocktail party area for the start of the dinner portion of the gala. We enjoyed sitting next to one of the choreographers from the night and it was interesting to hear how she created it.

We also watched both Melanie and Rebecca get honored and to hear from them about the passion for ballet! Guests also had the opportunity to participate in The Pointe Project where shoes were available for auction.