THE JUSTIN AND INEKE PODCAST — A podcast for dance parents
Sep 23, 2026 · 32 min · 11 segments
Truth about dance competitions like YAGP. Are dance competitions helping your child grow, or are they fueling anxiety and burnout? Here is the honest, unfiltered conversations between parents and…
What's actually going on with YAGP? Let's get the facts straight first because there's a lot going on, and there's a lot flying around, and it's easy to lose the threads.
It published accounts submitting by dancers and others within the ballet community, and several of these accounts specifically name YAGP a-and its founder and artistic director, Larissa.
The allegations break into different parts.
Well, the first is about bodies, of course, and then claims that a young dancer was told to lose weight in order to progress to the finals.
On the height and weight data, the organization explains that these fields exist for dancers seeking employment through its job fair, uh, because physical measurements form part of many company dancers', uh, companies', uh, hiring processes, and these fields are still optional and are only accessible to company directors who are requesting them.
If I remember th-correctly, when we applied for YAGP, we did fill in these forms, and even to apply for a professional school-
Yeah
... like Royal Ballet, we also filled in these fields.
So-
Yeah
...
it is, it is there.
It is there, yeah.
Yeah.
And the second is about scoring and advancement, and the allegations around that are the competition scores were improperly altered mid-competition.
And then the second one's about race or nationality that also played a role in the advancement decisions.
They say it's, "No, absolutely not," adding that it has been committed to, since its founding-
Mm
... to equal opportunity, regardless of economic, social, ethnic, racial, or geographic background.
And then on the scoring, so YAGP confirms that, uh, some people can revise their own scores after seeing an entire age category in order to equalize the personal scoring system.
And I understand that once you've seen all dancers, you might want to change things here and there.
And scoring calibration happens in plenty of judged sports, not only in dance.
What's actually going on with YAGP? Let's get the facts straight first because there's a lot going on, and there's a lot flying around, and it's easy to lose the threads.
It published accounts submitting by dancers and others within the ballet community, and several of these accounts specifically name YAGP a-and its founder and artistic director, Larissa.
The allegations break into different parts.
Well, the first is about bodies, of course, and then claims that a young dancer was told to lose weight in order to progress to the finals.
On the height and weight data, the organization explains that these fields exist for dancers seeking employment through its job fair, uh, because physical measurements form part of many company dancers', uh, companies', uh, hiring processes, and these fields are still optional and are only accessible to company directors who are requesting them.
If I remember th-correctly, when we applied for YAGP, we did fill in these forms, and even to apply for a professional school-
Yeah
... like Royal Ballet, we also filled in these fields.
So-
Yeah
...
it is, it is there.
It is there, yeah.
Yeah.
And the second is about scoring and advancement, and the allegations around that are the competition scores were improperly altered mid-competition.
And then the second one's about race or nationality that also played a role in the advancement decisions.
They say it's, "No, absolutely not," adding that it has been committed to, since its founding-
Mm
... to equal opportunity, regardless of economic, social, ethnic, racial, or geographic background.
And then on the scoring, so YAGP confirms that, uh, some people can revise their own scores after seeing an entire age category in order to equalize the personal scoring system.
And I understand that once you've seen all dancers, you might want to change things here and there.
And scoring calibration happens in plenty of judged sports, not only in dance.
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3 of 8
She Danced Through Panic
One dancer's panic turned performance into triumph
When Winning Earns Ice Cream
Parents can unintentionally tie love to winning
Your Score Is Not Your Identity
Scores can shape identity beyond the competition
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