Scene from the Award Ceremony
Photo by Foteini Christofilopoulou

The award ceremony took place at the Coronet Theatre. Miyako Yoshida, the artistic director of NBJ, was awarded by Hiroshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom.

This award recognizes NBJ's performance of Giselle at the Royal Opera House in July 2025. NBJ's appearance in London was highly reviewed in a number of leading international media outlets. In addition to five-star reviews, the performances were selected as the best of 2025 by both The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph.

The National Dance Awards are presented by the dance section of the Critics' Circle. The awards recognize outstanding dance performances given in the UK as well as the achievements of artists involved, based on votes by the 60 dance critics who belong to the dance section. This year, performances from January 1st and December 31st, 2025, in UK were eligible for consideration.

This award further motivates NBJ to pursue artistic excellence to give exceptional performances to our audiences across the world.

"I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award. This award has made me proud of everyone in the company, The National Ballet of Japan, whose members overcame countless challenges and made this remarkable achievement possible. We would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who supported us, especially Kinoshita Group, for supporting us to present our Giselle in London. Our gratitude also goes to everyone involved in this production to support every aspect of this tour.

It is a huge pleasure that the distinctive artistic expression of both Japan and the National Ballet of Japan was recognized in this award. Receiving this award surely encourages us to continue touring overseas. NBJ hopes to deliver performances that touch the hearts of our audiences. "

― Miyako Yoshida,the artistic director of NBJ