Akane Takada

Principal of The Royal Ballet
Akane Takada as Irina in Winter Dreams
Akane Takada as Irina in Winter Dreams
Akane Takada as Irina in Winter Dreams

Biography

Japanese dancer Akane Takada is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. She danced with the Company on a Prix de Lausanne scholarship in 2008 and in 2009 entered the Company as an Artist. She was promoted to First Artist in 2010, Soloist in 2011, First Soloist in 2014 and Principal in 2016.

Takada was born in Tokyo and trained at Hiromi Takahashi Ballet Studio and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. In the 2008 Prix de Lausanne she won Audience Choice Award in addition to her scholarship with The Royal Ballet. Takada’s repertory with the Company includes Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Giselle, Kitri, Manon, Juliet, Cinderella, Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Swanhilda (Coppélia), Olga (Onegin), Titania (The Dream), Young Girl (The Two Pigeons), Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Mathilde Kschessinska (Anastasia), Raven (Raven Girl), Nikiya (La Bayadère), Irina (Winter Dreams), Perdita and Young Shepherdess (The Winter’s Tale), Tita (Like Water for Chocolate) and roles in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, The Statement, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Jewels, Chroma, The Human Seasons, Voices of Spring, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, The Four Temperaments, Ballo della regina, Within the Golden Hour, Concerto, Multiverse, Monotones I, Medusa and Carbon Life.

Takada’s role creations include roles in Wayne McGregor’s Live Fire Exercise, Tetractys, Woolf Works and The Dante Project.

Find Out More

Watch Akane in performances on Royal Opera House Stream. You can also watch her exclusive interview, as part of the Spotlight on... series.

  • Ballet and dance

Spotlight on... Akane Takada

16 minutes

Akane Takada discusses her career as a Principal dancer in this new series, exclusively on Royal Opera House Stream.

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