Local dancers score gold
/ Monday, March 9, 2015
Students from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School continued their successful competition run at the Youth American Grand Prix semi-final regional in Denver, Colorado last month.
Michael Mengden, 18 and Sophie Milosovic, 15 both students of school founder and co-director Ariel Serrano, were together awarded a gold medal in the pas de deux category. Milosovic also placed first in the junior contemporary division and Mengden won the silver medal in the senior classical division.
Ballet students (from left), Sophie Milosovic, Sage Humphries and Michael Mengden with Sarasota Cuban Ballet School co-director, Ariel Serrano. / Courtesy Sarasota Cuban Ballet School
The placements qualified both students, who were also gold medal winners at the recent Universal Ballet Competition in Fort Lauderdale, for the YAGP Finals in New York City in April.
Sage Humphries, 17, a student from California who has studied with Serrano at the Sarasota school frequently, was awarded the Grand Prix in Denver, the highest award given at YAGP competitions.
Youth America Grand Prix, founded in 1999 by former dancers Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev, is the world's largest ballet scholarship competition. Previous YAGP winners have gone on to dance for some of the most renowned companies in the world.
The Sarasota Cuban Ballet School was founded in 2012 by Serrano and his wife, Wilmian Hernandez, who trained in their native Cuba and defected to the United States in the 1990s. The school specializes in training pre-professional students and has a unique exchange with students and faculty at the Cuban National Ballet School in Havana.
Music Review: BrassFest shines on a stormy day
Asolo Conservatory launches new summer theater program
Steve Martin and Martin Short headline a season of pop, theater and dance favorites from the last half century