I wasn't sure where to post this. I'm especially interested in the opinions of the ballet teachers. What do you think of this new ballet competition? My daughter's ballet school hosted one of the qualifying rounds this weekend. From what we saw, there was a real mixed bag of talent presented - some very good and some not so very good. It doesn't seem anywhere near the level of a competition such as the Prix de Lausanne but I may be mistaken. Please enlighten me if you know anything about it.

I personally know nothing about this particular competition but here is what I found on the web:<P><BR><A HREF="http://www.youthgrandprix.com/" TARGET=_blank><B>YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX</B></A><P>

Again reiterating that I know nothing personally about this group - when I am confronted with such an entity that gives out either scholarships or charity I always ask myself the following:<P>What percentage of their income funds do they allocate to the scholarship or charity?<P>Of course, in an enterprise such as this it is certainly not the only criteria, but it is, I think, one of them. <P>You mentioned, JM, that you saw the qualifying round - but, that might not give you a true idea of the level of the finishing competitors. <P>From what I see from their website (and I certainly could be mistaken) anyone can go to the opening qualifying rounds, meeting the age limitations of course. I didn't see a particular level of competency stated, though I surely could have missed it. The recommended classical repertoire leaves quite a bit of leeway.<P>I tried to find out how many rounds there were before winners were announced, but I couldn't find that.