Young British Dancer of the Year 2012 - Semi Finals results announced

More than 80 British ballet students representing 17 ballet schools from all over the UK entered the Young British Dancer of the Year 2012, hosted at The Royal Ballet Upper School.

Thanks to the continued support of Ricki Gail Conway from its inception, this marks the 13th year of YBDY - the only ballet competition specifically designed to encourage outstanding British or British-trained talent in classical ballet.

The Royal Ballet’s Gary Avis and Zenaida Yanowsky, together with former ballerina Deanna Bergsma made up the judging panel who, on Saturday 3 March, selected 32 entrants to go through to the Semi Finals on Sunday 4 March.

Following spirited performances from all semi finalists, the judges selected the following 16 students to go through to compete in the final on Saturday 10 March:

William Beagley - Young Dancers Academy
Alexander Bird - The Royal Ballet School
Mica Bradbury - The Royal Ballet School
Estelle Bovay - The Royal Ballet School
Isabelle Brouwers - English National Ballet School
Reece Clarke - The Royal Ballet School
Thomas Edwards - Central School of Ballet
Giorgio Garrett - The Royal Ballet School
Suzan Opperman - The Royal Ballet School
Barnaby Rook Bishop - The Royal Ballet School
Julia Roscoe - The Royal Ballet School
Adam Russell-Jones - English National Ballet School
Naomi Seaton - The Royal Ballet School
Kilian Smith - The Royal Ballet School
James Stephens - The Royal Ballet School
Georgia Ware - The Royal Ballet School

The Final of Young British Dancer of the Year takes place at 7.30pm on Saturday 10 March at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House (returns only)

Pictured: The finalists of Young British Dancer of the Year 2012
Photo: Marius Arnold-Clarke