The Sarasota Ballet announced that The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory has joined the elite roster of Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) partner schools. As a partner, The Sarasota Ballet becomes one of the YAGP’s official scholarship presenters, and The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory joins the world’s leading dance academies in providing scholarship opportunities to talented young dancers worldwide at YAGP. In addition, both Christopher Hird, Education Director, and Dierdre Miles Burger, Assistant Education Director, have been invited to join the YAGP’s esteemed panel of judges for several semi-finals this season.
“It’s an incredible honor for us to be recognized in this way by such a prestigious organization as the Youth America Grand Prix,” exclaims Hird. “Their belief in the quality of the training we provide is a testament to what we have built over the past few years.”
Since 2016 and the appointment of Hird as Education Director, The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory has continued to grow in quality and accomplishment. Most recently, acclaimed dance educator Dierdre Miles Burger joined the organization as Assistant Education Director, Conservatory Trainee Terri Jean Thomson won the Thelma Adams Robinson Ballet Award and placed 2nd at the YAGP semi-final in Atlanta, GA, and the Conservatory also became a member of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts.
“I am so proud of our students, faculty, and of course of everything Christopher has done to continue to sculpt the Conservatory into an institution that not only prepares students for competitions like the YAGP, but also, crucially, provide students with the understanding, training, and artistry necessary to join a professional company,” says Margaret Barbieri, Assistant Director of The Sarasota Ballet.
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