Pre-professional dancers from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School (SCBS) won top honors at recent Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) competitions in Salt Lake City, Denver, Indianapolis, and Toronto. Winners in the past have gone to the finals of the YAGP International Competition in New York—cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic—where leading artistic directors attend to identify potential candidates for their schools and companies. Past YAGP winners from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School have gone on to careers at companies such as the Royal Ballet in London, the San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet. 

The SCBS winners are:

Salt Lake City

First place, Classical Dance category, Junior Age Division: Saela Rivera-Martinez

First place, Pas de Deux category: Saela Rivera-Martinez and Brian Guerrero

Top 12, Classical Dance category, Senior Age Division: Brian Guerrero

Top 12, Contemporary dance division: Saela Rivera-Martinez

Outstanding teacher: Ariel Serrano, artistic director SCBS

Indianapolis

First place, Classical Dance category, senior age division: Natalia Chersia

First place, Pas de Deux category: Natalia Chersia and Sean Miller

Top 12, Contemporary dance, senior division: Natalia Chersia

Top 12, Classical Dance category, senior division: Nanami Hiyamizu

Top 12, Contemporary dance, junior division: Nia Townsend

Denver 

Top 12, Classical Dance category, senior age division: Chloe Exline

Top 24, Classical Dance category, junior age division: Charlotte Blake

Toronto

Grand prix: Sean Miller

Second place, Classical Dance category, junior division: Isabella Iannuzzi

Top 24, Classical Dance category, Marianna Rodriguez