Current Season. 2015 brought so much prestige to the studio as a majority of their dancers participated and placed in various competitions throughout the year, both in and outside of the United States. Starting in January, our dancers participated in the YAGP Regional competition in San Diego and Los Angeles. Sixteen of the performance pieces placed top twelve in their respective categories, ten of which qualified for the YAGP New York semi-finals in April - including the Company Contemporary Large Ensemble piece "Conjurer", choreographed by Asuka Kondoh. In February, Madeline Woo went to Switzerland where she competed at the prestigious Grande Prix de Lausanne. At 16, she was one of the youngest dancers in the competition. Her performance of the contemporary selection "Sarabande", was one of the best for the choreography and got a nod from the choreographer himself, Goyo Montero. In March, the team, from youngest Level 3 participants to Company, won almost all top awards in each category at the Cathy Roe Competition in Long Beach, CA - taking 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 8th places of the Top 10 Overall awards. They also took home the Overall Best Technique award for the studio. For the first time last April, the studio sent the most number of participants - 13 dancers, to the YAGP 2015 finals in New York City - competing in 6 solos, 1 trio, 2 pas de deux and 1 large ensemble. The team traveled with their teachers, Victor Kasatsky, Karen Woo and Asuka Kondoh and parent chaperones. It was the ultimate experience for the dancers as they met and performed with elite dancers from all over the world. Their company ensemble, "Conjurer" won Top 12 out of about 50 ensemble teams. Madeline Woo won top 12 in senior classical women and qualified for the Final Round. She performed her classical solo "Variation from Don Quixote" at the Edward Koch Theater at the prestigious Lincoln Center. Scholarships were also offered to three of our dancers, including: Madeline Woo - 1-year full scholarship to John Cranko School, the official school of Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, Lawrence Chen - summer intensive at Bolshoi Ballet, and Alexa Woo - short term scholarship to Houston Ballet. Also, just this May, Lawrence Chen was offered a full scholarship from Long Beach Ballet to attend their Collaborative Summer Intensive at Guangzhou Ballet in Guangdong, China. V&T Alumni. In 2012, Chisako Oga represented V&T Dance and the United States to compete at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, which was a rare honor at age 15. She was then invited to attend San Francisco Ballet School with full scholarship as a trainee. For three years, she trained and performed with the company locally and on tour, at the same time, finishing her high school education. This past May of 2015, Chisako was offered a contract with the San Francisco Ballet Company as an apprentice! She also received her high school diploma last June!In 2009, Skylar Campbell place in the top ten male finalists at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland and was awarded an RBC apprenticeship to the National Ballet of Canada. Skylar was promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2011, and then Second Soloist in 2013. As Corps de Ballet member, he has built a rich repertoire including an exceptional performance playing the title role in the Canadian premiere of Nijinsky. This June, Mr. Campbell was promoted to First Soloist at the National Ballet of Canada for 2015-16 Season. Other V&T Alumni Accomplishments:Adam Hartley - Company Artist, Oregon BalletMichelle Carpenter - Soloist, Houston BalletCatherine Hamer - Corps de Ballet, Stuttgart BalletMisa Oga - Artistic Director, MOGA Conservatory of Dance Morgan Nelson - Princeton University, Graduated Class of 2015 Dinara Gabdrakhmanova - Princeton University, Class of 2016 Emma Hatanaka - UCLA, Class of 2017.Samira Monshietehadi - UC Davis, Class of 2017Greyson Hanson - University of California - Irvine, Class of 2018 Brittany Kwong - University of California - Irvine, Class of 2018 Vera Rodriguez - University of Santa Barbara, Class of 2018Chris Chen - University of Chicago, Class of 2018Emily Ross - University of Utah, Class of 2019Naseem Soltani - UC Santa Barbara, Class of 2020Sasha Zagorski - UC Santa Barbara, Class of 2020
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