Tetsuya kumakawa biography channel

Long before baseball's Ichiro Suzuki or soccer's Hidetoshi Nakata became stars overseas, in 1987 a 15-year-old boy from Asahikawa in Hokkaido flew to London on his way to taking the ballet world by storm just a few years later.

After graduating from the Royal Ballet School there, Tetsuya Kumakawa was taken on by the Royal Ballet Company and soon rose through the ranks from the corps de ballet to become the first-ever Asian principal dancer with the Covent Garden-based company.

There, on the splendid Opera House stage, Kumakawa gained a huge and devoted following, for whom his magnificent and beautiful high jumps, and his athletic but graceful male dancing style created an indelible impression.

To the disappointment of so many, though, Ferrari-driving "Teddy" -- as he came to be known with affection in London (from the "kuma" in his name, which means "bear") -- then unexpectedly left the Royal Ballet in 1998 and returned to Japan.

Back home, he has undertak