Morgan Cloud, a dance student at the University of Hawai'i, is used to spinning and leaping across a stage. But now he's floating on air.

Cloud recently learned by phone that he was selected for a national graduate scholarship of $50,000 yearly for at least the next five years.

"I honestly don't remember a lot of that conversation past the point of 'you won the scholarship,' " said Cloud, a 21-year-old Big Island native, noting that he had submitted an application of almost 200 pages for the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship.

Cloud, the first student from a university in Hawai'i to win the scholarship, will attend a master's program at the London Contemporary Dance School in England, which he describes as Europe's version of New York City's The Juilliard School.

He is among this year's 77 recipients of the scholarship, which was started five years ago by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The foundation awards the scholarship to graduate students with financial need and exceptional academic achievement.

Cloud's UH professors at the Theater and Dance Department are proud to have one of their own selected.

"It speaks well of the training that we're providing here," said Gregg Lizenbery, chairman of the department. "It encourages other students to realize that, yes, just because we're in the middle of the pond, doesn't mean that you can't get recognized nationally."

The scholarship will help Cloud chase his dream of becoming a professional dancer. He hopes to later start his own dance company and one day teach dance at a university.

"It's going to be a major, major help," Cloud said. "I'll be able to focus more on my studies while I'm over there. I'll be able to focus more on dancing and not trying to find a job to pay the rent."

After Cloud learned he won the scholarship, he began choreographing a short modern dance for the scholarship awards banquet next weekend in Washington D.C.

The three-minute dance is set to music inspired by sounds of medical procedures. The music Cloud selected — "For Felix (and All the Rats)" by Matmos — uses rat cages as instruments.

"It's a really cool little album," Cloud said, adding that he opted for the rat cages over another Matmos piece that involved "scraping a skull."

Cloud's mother, a dance instructor at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, introduced him to dance. His father home-schooled him from the seventh grade.

When he was 16, his father died after a 10-year battle against leukemia.

"He was kind of the glue that held our family together," Cloud said. "It took us a while just to be without him. That was probably the hardest thing that I've gone through."

Through the family tragedy, dance remained in Cloud's life.

"It's something that I've always been around because of my mother," he said. "It's one of those things that if I didn't do it, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be stuck without dance."

At age 16, he began taking classes at UH-Hilo. After finishing his core curriculum, he transferred to UH-Manoa.

"He's a great role model," Lizenbery said. "He has the demeanor of a professional."

Last fall, Cloud studied dance at the London Contemporary Dance School through a UH exchange program.

"Just being immersed in that kind of environment really opened my eyes and helped me grow and mature as a dancer," Cloud said. "It's an amazing opportunity."

During the exchange program, Cloud said, the director of the department encouraged him to consider the master's program, which accepts 10 students a year. Cloud is finishing up his last semester at UH and will travel to London for the master's program this fall.

Reach Robert Shikina at rshikina@honoluluadvertiser.com.