Kang Misun is the principal dancer of the Seoul-based dance company Universal Ballet. (Universal Ballet)

By Lee Jihae

Kang Misun, principal dancer of the Seoul-based Universal Ballet, has won the best female dancer award from the Benois de la Danse, dubbed the Oscars of ballet.

The awards committee on June 20 held a ceremony for the winners at Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and gave the honor to both Kang and Qiu Yunting from the National Ballet of China.

Kang was honored for her role as a widow in "Mirinaegil," which was performed in March at the National Theater of Korea.

One of the world's most prestigious ballet awards, the Benois de la Danse was founded in 1991 by the International Dance Association in Moscow to honor French dancer and choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810).

The annual awards are given in Moscow based on the assessments of works performed by the world's top dance groups.

Kang is the fifth Korean to win the award after ballerinas Kang Sue-jin in 1999 and Kim Joo-won in 2006, ballerino Kim Ki-min in 2016 and ballerina Park Sae-eun in 2018.

Now principal dancer of her company, Kang Misun graduated from Sunhwa Arts Middle School and Sunhwa Arts High School in Seoul and trained at the Washington Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington.

She joined Universal Ballet in 2002 as an apprentice and rose to corps de ballet dancer, demi-soloist (2005-06), soloist (2006-10), senior soloist (2010-12) and finally to principal dancer in 2012.

The dancer gave birth to a son in October 2021 and returned to the stage five months later. She is one of the few "working mom" ballerinas in Korea.

jihlee08@korea.kr