This year's stars include Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, and Xiomara Reyes from American Ballet Theatre; Svetlana Lunkina from the Bolshoi Ballet; Diana Vishneva and Andrian Fadeev from the Kirov Ballet; Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre from the Munich Ballet; Alexandra Ansanelli from New York City Ballet; Eleonora Abbagnato and Alessio Carbone from Paris Opera Ballet; and Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg from London's Royal Ballet.

The program also includes a performance of the Martha Graham Ensemble, directed by Yuriko.

The gala was created by dance impresario Solomon Tencer and first presented in 1996 at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre. Tencer, who with his wife Nadia Veselova-Tencer established the Academy of Ballet and Jazz in a Toronto suburb, wanted to bring examples of great performance to his students.

Past performances have featured dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Tango Metropolis de Buenos Aires, San Francisco Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet.