Rio Fukunaga

He/Him

Rio Fukunaga joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company as a Second Soloist in 2026.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Rio began his ballet training at the age of five at Sanae Yamamoto Ballet School. In 2019, he received Third Place at the Youth America Grand Prix Japan Semi-Final and was awarded a scholarship to The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago, where he trained for two years under Jose Carayol, Raul Casasola, and Karin Ellis-Wents. In 2020, he was selected as a semifinalist at the Prix de Lausanne. The following year, he placed in the Top 12 at the Youth America Grand Prix Finals and received a scholarship to the European School of Ballet in the Netherlands, where he trained under Jean-Yves Esquerre, Olivier Wecxsteen, Christiane Marchant, and Cedric Ygnace.

Rio joined Hong Kong Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2022. His repertoire includes the Golden Idol in Vladimir Malakhov’s La Bayadère, Bluebird in Malakhov’s The Sleeping Beauty, Russian Dance in Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker, and a variety of classical and contemporary works.