Featured photo: Sadie Renee Kern, age 14, dances the Graduation Ball (photo by Jerry Cooper)
Last week, hundreds of aspiring ballet dancers from the ages of 9-19 from all over North Carolina visited Winston-Salem for the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) ballet scholarship auditions. The auditions have set up dancers who have gone on to dance professionally for American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, New York City Ballet, and more.
On Jan. 20, photographer Jerry Cooper visited the competition to shoot some of the dancers. Final results can be found here.
Davis Pecze, age 12, dances the Pacuita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Sadie Renee Kern, age 14, dances the Graduation Ball (photo by Jerry Cooper)Landon Shields, age 13, dances the Paquita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Landon Shields, age 13, dances the Paquita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Jax Aquino, age 12, dances Swan Lake (photo by Jerry Cooper)Jax Aquino, age 12, dances Swan Lake (photo by Jerry Cooper)Lucius Hamblen, age 12, dances the Peasant Pas Gisell (photo by Jerry Cooper)Lucius Hamblen, age 12, dances the Peasant Pas Gisell (photo by Jerry Cooper)Kellan Barrows, age 12, dances the Satanella (photo by Jerry Cooper)Thomas Wilcutts, age 13, dances the Harlequinade (photo by Jerry Cooper)Thomas Wilcutts, age 13, dances the Harlequinade (photo by Jerry Cooper)Davis Pecze, age 12, dances the Pacuita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Davis Pecze, age 12, dances the Pacuita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Jax Aquino, age 12, dances Swan Lake (photo by Jerry Cooper)Thomas Wilcutts, age 13, dances the Harlequinade (photo by Jerry Cooper)Gabriela Manriquez, age 14, dances the Pas De Trois Act I Swan Lake (photo by Jerry Cooper)Gabriela Manriquez, age 14, dances the Pas De Trois Act I Swan Lake (photo by Jerry Cooper)Caitlyn Montgomery, age 14, dances the La Fille Mal Gardee (photo by Jerry Cooper)Caitlyn Montgomery, age 14, dances the La Fille Mal Gardee (photo by Jerry Cooper)Mackenzie Horne, age 14, dances the Paquita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Alta Millhollin, age 14, dances the Paquita (photo by Jerry Cooper)Sadie Renee Kern, age 14, dances the Graduation Ball (photo by Jerry Cooper)
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Sayaka Matsuoka has been working as a journalist since she first interned at Triad City Beat in 2014. Since then, her byline has appeared in publications such as Indy Week, Durham Magazine, Rewire, Bitch, the Bitter Southerner, and Nerdist.
Sayaka currently works as the managing editor for Triad City Beat where she covers culture, news and writes a weekly opinion column.
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In addition to working for TCB, she sits on the board of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, a national organization, as the diversity chair.
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