Akira
Akiyama

Benois de la Danse nominee

Born in Saitama, Japan, she began her ballet training at the age of seven. After training at The Tokyo Ballet School and National Conservatory Dance School, Lisbon, she joined the Campagnia Balletto Classico di Liliana Cosi e Marinel Stefanscu, Italy. She won bronze medal at the Tanzoplymp in 2013. She joined The Tokyo Ballet in January 2016, promoted to Principal, 2022.

Her repertoire includes Kitri in Don Quixote, Medora in Le Corsaire, Giselle, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Maurice Béjart’s Roméo et Juliette, John Neumeier’s Spring and Fall, Jerome Robbins’s In the Night and others. She performed in The Tokyo Ballet Premieres of George Balanchine’s Serenade (2018), John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet (2022, Juliet) as well as in the world premieres of the new version of The Nutcracker (2019, Masha) and Jo Kanamori’s KAGUYAHIME (2023, Kaguyahime), The Sleeping Beauty (2023).

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