NISHIKAWA TakakoFirst Soloists

NISHIKAWA Takako was born in Osaka and enrolled at the Azumi Ballet School in 1981, where she received training from AZUMI Yutaka and TACHIBANA Teruyo. She attended the Vaganova Ballet Academy in September 1991 to study under Natalia DUDINSKAYA and Marina VASILIEVA. She then joined the Leningrad State Ballet as a trainee in September of 1994 and officially joined the company in September 1995. During her time at the Leningrad State Ballet, she demonstrated highly articulate performances in roles such as Myrtha in Giselle and the leading roles in Theme and Variations and Le Corsaire. She began as Soloist when the National Ballet of Japan was founded in 1997 and danced Odette/Odile in the 2002 production of Swan Lake. She started teaching at NNT Ballet school in 2013, and at the National Ballet of Japan in 2014.

Repertoire with NBJ includes

  • Alexei FADEECHEV's production: Don Quixote (Street Dancer, Melcedes)
  • MAKI Asami's productions: Swan Lake (The Queen Mother, Spanish), The Nutcracker (Snow Queen, Spain), La Bayadère (Gamzatti, 2nd Variation of Kingdom of the Shades), Raymonda (Henriette)
  • Konstantin SERGYEV's productions: Swan Lake (Odette/Odile, Spanish), The Sleeping Beauty (The Lilac Fairy, Fairy of Mischievousness), Giselle (Myrtha)
  • Frederick ASHTON: Cinderella (Fairy Summer)
  • George BALANCHINE: Symphony in C (4th Movement Principal)
  • August BOURNONVILLE: La Sylphide (Madge)
  • Rudy Van DANZIG: Four Last Songs
  • Nacho DUATO: Por vos Muero
  • Kenneth MACMILLAN: Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet, Three Harlots)
  • MAKI Asami: La Dame aux Camélias (Prudence)
  • OGURA Sachiko: Cinderella (The Elder Sister)
  • Roland PETIT: La Chauve-souris (Cancan Girls), Coppélia (Swanilda’s Friends)
  • Dominic WALSH: Orfeo ed Euridice (Lead Furies)