Annalise Ajmani of McLean has won first place in the 2013 BalletNova Young Choreographers Competition.

Ajmani received a $500 cash scholarship and the opportunity to set her choreography on BalletNova’s Diamond Summer Intensive Performance Workshop dancers, presented at the August performance; free tuition to BalletNova Diamond Summer Intensive; and an engraved trophy sculpture of a dancer.

Second-place winner Renee Lamarque of Falls Church received a $250 scholarship, and third-place winner Molly Sternberg of Alexandria received a $100 scholarship.

The goal of the BNYCC is to provide young dancer/choreographers between ages 14 and 18 years old with an opportunity to stretch artistically by developing their art beyond performing, to showcase their work, and to offer performance opportunities for local young dancers.

The competition was open to residents of Northern Virginia – Fairfax, Arlington, Loudon and Prince William counties, and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax. Entries were required to be three to five minutes in length and with three to eight dancers, in the genres of ballet, modern, contemporary, hip-hop, or jazz dance.

Finalists performed at the “Shining a Spotlight on Dance” Gala for BalletNova on Saturday, March 16, where the winners were announced.