Yakut Ballet School receives 'Soul of Dance' award with soloist

The Yakut Ballet School named after the Poselsky family and soloist Valery Argunov have been awarded the 'Soul of Dance' prize, a prestigious ballet recognition, for the first time.

Jan 30, 2026

Students train at the Yakut Ballet School, which earned the «Soul of Dance» award for its contributions to ballet.
Source:
Yakut Ballet School

The «Soul of Dance» prize, established by the Ministry of Culture and the editorial board of the «Ballet» magazine, has been awarded for the first time to the Yakut Ballet School named after the Poselsky family. It was also presented to soloist Valery Argunov of the republican opera and ballet theater. This was reported to the editorial office of 14.RU by the school«s administration.

The «Soul of Dance» award was established in 1994 and is presented for outstanding achievements in ballet art, to teachers, choreographers, and composers. Its laureates have included choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, ballerina Maya Plietskaya, Svetlana Zakharova, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, and others.

The ceremonial presentation will take place in the spring on the stage of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.

The Yakut Ballet School and Valery Argunov are not the first representatives of the republic to be recognized at the Russian level; previously, the prize was awarded to premier Saryal Afanasyev, and the theater«s choreographers Maria Saidykulova and Yekaterina Taishina.