Tetsuya Kumakawa

Tetsuya "Teddy" Kumakawa (熊川 哲也, Kumakawa Tetsuya, born 5 March 1972) is a Japanese ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.

Early life

Tetsuya Kumakawa was born on 5 March 1972 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. He began studying Ballet at 10 years old; aged 15, he moved to the UK and trained at the Royal Ballet School, before joining The Royal Ballet in 1989 and becoming the youngest soloist in their history. He was promoted to first soloist in 1991, and principal dancer in 1993.

Career

Kumakawa won the Gold Medal and the then newly established Prince Takamado Prize[1] at the 1989 Prix de Lausanne and returned as a jury member in 2013.[2]

With The Royal Ballet, Kumakawa has danced roles such as 'Lead Mandolin Player' in Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan), Act 1 pas de trois in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, The bronze Idol in La Bayadère and 'The Fool' in the premiere of Kenneth Macmillan's The Prince of the Pagodas. [1]

In 1998, Kumakawa and five other leading male dancers from the Royal Ballet, Stuart Cassidy, Gary Avis, Matthew Dibble, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, left to form K-ballet.[3] He set up the K-Ballet School for young dancers in 2003.[2]

In 2006, Kumakawa won the "fifth Asahi Scenic Art Prize" for his artistic and original interpretation and presentation of the classical pieces "Don Quixote" and "The Nutcracker"[4]

References
  1. "Lord of the dance - CNN.com". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  2. "Ballet star on life as a maturing virtuoso - SWI swissinfo.ch". swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  3. Brown, Ismene (23 January 2001). "And then there were two". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  4. 1n 2006, he won the “fifth Asahi Scenic Art Prize” for his artistic and original interpretation and presentation of the classical pieces Don Quixote and The Nutcracker
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