Youth America Grand Prix Gala 2025 Honors Sarah Hoover

Forbes

28-04-2025

One of a kind pointe shoes designed by Alexandre Birman for YAGP
Pop culture is obsessed with ballet. Look at Étoile, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino's new Prime series about competing dance companies–which has already been renewed for a second season.
Meanwhile, the balletcore fashion movement has reached peak popularity with ballet inspired looks all over fashion week runways, from JW Anderson to Ferragamo, Simone Rocha and Vaquera's latest collections. From bodysuits to wrap cardigans and tutus, not to mention Christian Louboutin's lace-up ribbon pumps, it feels like ballet is having a moment in 2025.
Now, Marcella Guarino Hymowitz returns to the Youth America Grand Prix as the gala's Creative Chair, with this in mind. The YAGP Gala 2025, which is the 26th annual gala, falls on April 29 at the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center.
The main Gala Performance, called 'The Stars of Today Meets The Stars of Tomorrow' will feature the next generation of young dancers, including YAGP alumni, Max Barker, Paloma Livellara, Hannah O'Neill and Yana Peneva, among others. There will also be the world premiere of a choreography created and performed by Isaiah Day, among other performances.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 18: Marcella Guarino Hymowitz and Larissa Saveliev attend YAGP's 20th Anniversary Gala 'Stars Of Today Meets The Stars Of Tomorrow at David Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center on April 18, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
The gala will have a 1970s disco theme, bringing the glitz and glitter with a dash of Studio 54 glam. 'For outfits, we thought, we have to go sparkly,' said Hymowitz. 'Come on, it's the 1970s. And it's so fun.'
Fittingly, the leading sponsor is Oscar De La Renta, alongside others including Bucherer jewelry. Tge honorary chair is Maria Cristina Anzola, while notable YAGP committee members include Chelsea Clinton and Wes Gordon.
The YAGP recently held a cocktail reception at the Manohlo Blahnik flagship store where the sale of each shoe donated a portion of proceeds to YAGP.
One of a kind pointe shoes designed by Silvia Tcherassi for YAGP
YAGP's massive scholarship program provides support to young ballerinas from all over the world. In addition, Hymowitz launched a new fellowship for choreography.
This year, the gala will showcase custom, one-of-a-kind ballet slippers designed by artists and fashion designers, including Carolina Herrera, Theory, Helmut Lang, Attersee, Libby Klein, and Alice and Olivia, among others.
'It's a really fun way to raise money,' said Hymowitz. The ballet slippers fundraise for the YAGP through an online auction that starts today.
The auction currently has 17 pairs of designer pointe shoes on sale, 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. There is also a pair of silver shoes by Herve Leger by Michelle Ochs and a pink, artsy pair by Fer da Silva that reads in the sole: 'What you call sacrafice, I call love.'
Theory pointe shoes for YAGP
Along with the 1970s disco theme comes the golden era of ballet. The 1970s were the golden era of ballet and this gala is partly inspired by the 1977 ballet drama, The Turning Point, starring Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.
The Academy Award-winning film also starred prima ballerina Leslie Brown, a dancer with the American Ballet Theater, and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The emcee of the night will be Melanie Hamrick, a choreographer, ballerina (who danced with the American Ballet Theatre for fifteen years before retiring in 2019) and author best known as the fiancée of Mick Jagger. She is also an alumni of Youth America Grand Prix.
Actor and dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov in a scene from the movie 'Turning Point', 1977. (Photo by Stanley Bielecki)
Ballet careers are driven by discipline. 'It comes down to exercise science and nutrition,' said Larissa Saveliev, the founder and artistic director of YAGP.
'When I wanted to be a ballerina, the options were so limited. But now, a lot of the dancers are getting degrees at Harvard. So, a lot of them are really educated and go on to have all sorts of interesting careers.'
The daily discipline of being a ballerina is intense. 'It's something in between being a very high-end athlete and an Oscar-worthy performer combined together,' said Saveliev.
One of a kind pointe shoes designed by Galvan London for YAGP
'They rehearse at least 12 hours a day. And then in their downtime, they're sewing their pointe shoes to get them ready,' she adds. 'They are doing physical therapy, going to Pilates. All the dancers I know work out. They train and do their dance. I would say the body is their strategy, so they must take care of their body. They're training like proper athletes.'
The gala will honor writer Sarah Hoover, the author of The Motherload: Episodes From the Brink of Motherhood, an art historian and culture writer after working as the director of New York art gallery, Gagosian.
'Sarah was a ballerina herself growing up, and she is probably the biggest champion of ballet, who's not in the ballet world,' said Hymowitz.
Hoover says: 'Ballet has always been number one for me, but it does seem like mainstream culture is catching up. It feels like ballet is becoming less elite and more accepted.'