As a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet from 1993 to 1998, Tetsuya Kumakawa was a sensation on stage at Covent Garden. London's discerning audiences thrilled to the incomparable ability of this boyish young man, just 21 when he became the first Japanese male dancer to take center stage with the company. A natural showman in the spotlight, the sheer height of Kumakawa's jumps, his astonishingly elegant athleticism and lightness of foot brought the house down night after night, no matter which other world-class dancers were also performing.
Once, in 1992, when I went to get a ticket for "La Bayadere (Indian Dancing-girl)" a ballet by Marius Petipa, I asked at the ticket office for a performance in which Kumakawa would be dancing the vignette role of the Bronze Idol. "My God," said the man behind the counter, "his dance is only for five-six minutes, but it's worth the whole ticket price just for those moments -- he's sensational."
Sensational -- and then some. I watched Kumakawa, in gleaming gold body paint, leap higher than seemed humanly possible (while doing the splits) and seeming, for a split second, to defy gravity altogether, then spinning and turning so fast and with such acrobatic grace. The experience was one of intense emotional awe -- and I felt pride as a Japanese among his legions of London fans.