Seong Jae-seung wins grand prix at Helsinki ballet competition that scrapped gender categories

Seong Jae-seung, a 20-year-old student at the Korea National University of Arts, claimed the top prize at the prestigious Helsinki International Ballet Competition, becoming the first winner since the event abolished its gender categories this year.

Seong received the Jane Erkko Grand Prix — the competition's highest honor, awarded to the overall winner — at the closing ceremony of the 10th Helsinki International Ballet Competition, held June 5 at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet theater. The prize carries a cash award of 20,000 euros (about 36 million won, or $23,000).

Founded in 1984, the Helsinki International Ballet Competition is held every four to six years. This year's edition was the first to fully eliminate separate male and female categories, adopting a genderless format in which dancers compete solely on technique and artistry. Seong became the first overall champion under that unified system.

The grand prix win is the first by a Korean dancer in a decade, since ballerina the late Kim Hee-sun took the honor in 2016, and the first ever by a Korean male dancer. The best previous result by a Korean male was a second-place finish — with no first place awarded — in the senior men's category at the 2016 competition by Yoon Byeol.

Seong, currently enrolled in the performance studies program at Korea National University of Arts, has been building a reputation as a next-generation star on the international ballet circuit. At last year's Youth America Grand Prix, he took first place in the senior pas de deux category alongside So Ha-eun and second place in the senior men's solo category.

At the Helsinki competition, he entered the newly created Young Professional category for dancers aged 19 to 21. He is set to take the stage next month as the prince in the original ballet "The Little Mermaid" at Hwaseong Arts Center.

Two other Korean dancers also reached the podium, underscoring the depth of South Korea's ballet talent: In Ji-young placed third in the junior category, and Kang Yu-jung finished third in the Young Professional category.