Watch more of this special collaboration with Kathryn and Josephine here! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jsx7gsxzvpmxiGQ.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jJdgf72Y2bPJdmQ.html

I'm so glad you don't take points off for slips & falls. I'm often in awe of the girls who fall off pointe but bounce back on the music & expressivity without flinching.

That Black Swan pose was like a bullet to the head, like one moment I was seeing Kathryn Morgan talking about how judges look for different things in different age groups, and an eye-blink later I was looking at Odile. I know the video was cut to emphasize the transition but even CGI wouldn't have had that effect. Wow! I kept rewinding to rewatch that part because the transformation was so dramatic and yet I can't really pinpoint what exactly had changed; it's still Kate's face and Kate's arms, there's a ponytail and there are no feathers, there isn't even music, it's just, the Black Swan just flashed into the video out of nowhere. And yeah I'd actually worry if a 9-year-old can pull that off lol

Wow, yesterday i won my local dance competition after falling onstage and i was so surprised because i had no idea about all of this! I guess this makes me less nervous about going onstage then :)

This is really interesting to hear! I also serve as a judge a few times a year but in a totally different sphere - science fairs. However, there's a lot of overlap in the ways of thinking! Students get stuck on thinking that their work needs to be technically impressive with far-reaching consequences (like wanting to do a quadruple pirouette), but a lot of the time especially for younger ages, I'm looking for what you described: enthusiasm, a greater understanding of the work, etc. When they get older I start to judge on details more harshly. Very interesting watch!

I am so excited to see you two together!! Fabulous!! God Bless You

I’ve slipped on my own sweat during a performance and bounced back up and continued like nothing happened. So true about it being how you handle it.

Very helpful! Thank you Kathryn and Josephine!

I love that you point out that ballet is a sport. Once you hit a certain level, you train just as hard as any other professional athlete, yet that component is seldom recognised in favour of the ballerina flitting (seemingly) effortlessly across the stage.

Thanks! I wanna watch ballet but didn't know what I should know.

As someone who follows both ballet and figure skating, I feel like FS can learn a lot from ballet judging. FS has "artistic" judging component as well (called program component score - PCS) and it judges transition, choreography, interpretation of music etc. But this PCS is often compromised for more difficult tech content; and PCS judging can feel very biased / subjective. I wonder if there are many "complaints" in ballet about judging? Like did anyone ever said "X did 4 pirouettes so they should've won" or "Y was robbed, should've gotten higher artistry score"?

If ballet is a sport like she is saying, YAGP should make all scores from all judges publicly available in real time like they do in sports competitions, for instance, figure skating or rhythmic gymnastics. First and foremost, ballet is a theatrical art (with a strong athletic basis, of course)!

1:27 Josephine replies: ballet is different from other art forms because it's about finesse and what's unsaid or between the lines. Here I disagree. Yes, ballet the artform has this quality. But other artforms has this as well, especially music and acting but also literature. The contrast is in ballet versus sports like gymnastics and figure skating, not ballet versus the other arts. Sports have the tricks, the boxes you have to tick, the idealized extremes in flexibility and technical skill. Later on in the video this point is repeated but then Josephine makes the distinction that I agree with: ballet is different from sports because of the artistic quality shown in finesse and subtlety.

I hope YAGP last forever so one day when I have kids and put them in ballet they will be able to experience it.

I feel like she has a friend named George

I'm not very knowledgeable but even I notice poor transitions. I'm not sure if choreography is to blame or it's coaching but I've even noticed it during professional dances. It's jarring!