Korean ballerino Kim Ki-min, currently with the Mariinsky Ballet Company in Russia, won the prestigious Grand Prix Award at Youth America Grand Prix, the world’s largest student ballet competition, in New York last week.

The 20-year-old ballerino, a graduate of Korea National University of Arts, is the first Korean to win the top prize at the international competition. Kim also won a gold prize with Korean ballerina Jung Ga-yeon, 19, in the Pas de Deux category at the competition.

“The Grand Prix, the top prize at the concours, is given to a very talented and promising dancer and is chosen by a group of juries from around the world. The prize will open a bright future for Kim who has been gaining international recognition recently,” Cho Joo-hyun, professor at KNUA, told The Korea Herald.

Kim was also the first Korean to enter the prestigious Mariinsky Ballet Company in 2011 and has already performed the leading roles in two performances, as Basilio in “Don Quixote” and as Ali in Marius Petipa’s “Le Corsaire.”

Established in 1999 by two former dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet, Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev, YAGP is the largest international ballet competition for students. It awards more than $250,000 annually to young dancers and leading dance schools from around the world.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)