Kang Mi-sun wins best female dancer at Benois de la Danse

심선아 / 2023-06-21 02:08:20

ballerina-Russian award

▲ Kang Mi-sun, a principal ballerina at Universal Ballet, is seen in this photo provided by the ballet company. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

ballerina-Russian award

Kang Mi-sun wins best female dancer at Benois de la Danse

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- Kang Mi-sun, a principal ballerina at Universal Ballet, shared the best female dancer award at Benois de la Danse, one of the world's most prestigious ballet awards.

The South Korean dancer picked up the honor at the awards ceremony in Moscow on Tuesday (Moscow time), together with China's Qiu Yunting. The winners beat four other competitors from ballet companies from around the world.

Universal Ballet is one of South Korea's two major ballet companies along with the Korean National Ballet.

The 40-year-old Kang was recognized for her lead role as a widow in "Mirinaegil," a creative piece premiered by the ballet company at a theater in Seoul in March.

The Benois de la Danse is one of the world's most authoritative ballet awards founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991 to honor distinguished French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810).

Park is the fifth Korean to win a Benois de la Danse prize after Kang Sue-jin (1999), Kim Joo-won (2006), Kim Ki-min (2016) and Park Sae-eun (2018).

Having graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School, Kang is currently serving as a principal dancer at Universal Ballet. Prior to that, she trained at the Washington Kirov Academy of Ballet in the United States.

In 2002, she joined Universal Ballet as an apprentice and rose through the ranks -- starting as a corps de ballet dancer, then becoming a demi-soloist, a soloist and a senior soloist -- before being promoted to principal dancer in 2012.

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