Okawa awarded “Soul of Dance” prize in Russia

May 1, 2018

Moscow- Japanese ballet dancer Koya Okawa was awarded Monday this year's prestigious Soul of Dance prize in the category Rising Star from the Ballet magazine of Russia.

The 26-year-old received the prize in a ceremony at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre in the Russian capital and gave a gala performance there.

This feat came after Okawa, who belongs to the ballet company of the Tatar State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kazan, central Russia, won gold in the senior male duet division in last year's Moscow International Ballet Competition.

In Monday's gala performance, Okawa danced with Midori Terada, 25, with whom he performed in last year's competition. He got a lot of applause from the audience every time he leaped high.

"Because the prize is what I longed for from way back, it's one of my dreams coming true," Okawa said after the performance. "It's my privilege to win it."

Past Japanese Soul of Dance prize winners are the late Kenji Usui, who served as chairman of the Japan Ballet Association, and Morihiro Iwata, who performed as a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and currently is an art director at a theater in Ulan-Ude, eastern Siberia. Jiji Press