The National Ballet of Japan Makes European Debut at The Royal Opera House
The National Ballet of Japan comes to Covent Garden in the summer of 2025, making its Royal Opera House debut. This will be the first time an Asian dance company has performed on the main stage of the Royal Opera House in more than 15 years.
The London season marks the homecoming of the National Ballet of Japan artistic director Miyako Yoshida, the first Japanese ballerina to be made a principal dancer at Birmingham Royal Ballet (1988–1995) and The Royal Ballet (1995–2010). She was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to dance in 2007.
Yoshida said:
It is with immense joy and gratitude that I bring our national company to the theatre and the city that gave me everything as a dancer.
It is also with great pride that I see talented dancers from Japan flourishing in every rank of The Royal Ballet, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School – a development I could never have foreseen when I first arrived in Britain as a young student in 1983.
The National Ballet of Japan will give five performances of its production of Giselle a version by Yoshida – the European premiere of the production – at the Royal Opera House from 24 until 27 July 2025. Her production is with staging and additional choreography by British choreographer and former Royal Ballet Principal Character Artist Alastair Marriott, and British designer Dick Bird has created a set inspired by the ‘Hill of Crosses’ in Lithuania.
With our production of Giselle – said Yoshida – I hope London audiences will find in our company a familiar blend of natural lyricism and virtuosic brilliance tempered with our own brand of musicality and refinement.
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet and Yoshida were both Royal Ballet School students together and then young dancers at Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet. He said,
Her achievement has inspired an entire generation of Japanese dancers who are now represented in the top ranks of most major ballet companies in the world. She was a treasured Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and the perfect ambassador for the friendship between Japan and the UK. We are so delighted that the National Ballet of Japan will be performing at the Royal Opera House next summer.
National Ballet of Japan
Founded in 1997, the National Ballet of Japan is the resident dance company of the New National Theatre in Shinjuku Tokyo and the only state-funded ballet company in Japan. With 75 full-time dancers, the National Ballet of Japan performs a wide repertoire including most of the 19th-century classics, the masterworks of Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Roland Petit and Kenneth Macmillan – as well as contemporary works by Christopher Wheeldon, David Bintley, Nacho Duato and Will Tuckett. The company made its overseas debut in 2008 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC followed by a season at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2009. Miyako Yoshida has been the Artistic Director of the company since the 2020/21 season.
The official sponsor for the National Ballet of Japan’s 2025 London tour is Kinoshita Group. The tour is also supported by All Nippon Airways (ANA), Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and the Japan Arts Council.
National Ballet of Japan – 2025 London Season
Giselle
Thursday 24 July 7:30PM
Friday 25 July 7:30PM
Saturday 26 July 2:00PM
Saturday 26 July 7:30PM
Sunday 27 July 2:00PM
Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Conductor: Paul Murphy
Box Office
https://www.roh.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7304 4000
Tickets go on sale from Wednesday 19 March 2025
Giselle
Choreography: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa
Production: Miyako Yoshida
Staging and additional choreography: Alastair Marriott
Music: Adolphe Adam
Set and costume design: Dick Bird
Lighting Design: Rick Fisher
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
You should go and see the brilliant Principal Dancer Ayako Ono !