Ballerino Jeon Min-chul becomes fifth Korean to win Grand Prix at YAGP

Korean ballerino Jeon Min-chul won the Grand Prix at the 2025 Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), which concluded on Sunday. He is the fifth Korean dancer ever to win the Grand Prix at the competition.

Founded in 2000, YAGP is one of the largest ballet competitions in the world, held annually. Participants compete in different age groups: Pre-competitive, which features participants from ages nine to 11, Junior, between ages 12 to 14, and Senior, between ages 15 to 20.

The competition categories include Classical Ballet Solo, Pas de Deux, Ensemble and Contemporary. This year, more than 12,000 dancers from around the world participated, and about 2,000 finalists from 41 countries competed in the final round.

Jeon won the Grand Prix, which is awarded to the participant demonstrating the highest level of excellence across all age groups and categories.

Previously, Korean dancers who received the Grand Prix include Seo Hee, principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, who was honored with the top prize in 2003, Kim Ki-min, principal dancer at Mariinsky Ballet, who won in 2012, Jun Joon-hyuk, soloist at the Royal Ballet, who won in 2016, and Park Geon-hee from Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts), who won last year.

Jeon is currently studying in the Department of Dance at K-Arts and is set to join the Mariinsky Ballet in Russia. Sung Jae-seung and So Ha-eun, also students of K-Arts, won first place in the Senior Pas de Deux division. Sung also placed second in the Senior Male Solo division.

In the Junior Male division, Park Kunbyulbit and Cho Hyun-jun placed within the top 12, while Park Hui-hun placed within the top 12 in the Junior Female division.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY HA NAM-HYUN [lim.jeonwon@joongang.co.kr]