Erina Takahashi

Birthplace
Kushiro, Japan

Training
Kushiro Ballet Academy by Kou Yano, English National Ballet School

English National Ballet
Joined 1996, Principal Dancer 2000, Lead Principal 2007

Repertoire
Lead roles in Manon, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, Cinderella (Corder), Coppélia, Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Etudes, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Paquita, Double Concerto (Hampson), Square Dance, Who Cares?, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine), The Rite of Spring (MacMillan), The Snow Queen (Corder), A Million Kisses to my Skin (Dawson), Voluntaries (Tetley), Les Sylphides, Don Quixote pas de deux, Impromtu (Deane), Perpetuum Mobile (Hampson), Alice in Wonderland (Deane) Petite Mort (Kylian), In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (Forsythe), No Man’s Land (Scarlett), M-Dao (Wang), Akram Khan’s Giselle, La Sylphide, Approximate Sonata 2016 (Forsythe), Cinderella (Wheeldon), Laid in Earth (Cherkaoui).

Favourite production
Mary Skeaping’s Giselle

Career highlights
Creating Aurora in Deane’s The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Albert Hall, Clara in Christopher Hampson’s The Nutcracker, Akram Khan’s Dust on the main Pyramid stage at Glastonbury and the leading role of The Woman in Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth at the Royal Opera House

Other info
In 1992 Erina was the winner of the Chubu Newspaper Company Award (Chubu All Japan Ballet Competition) and winner of Best Female Newcomer at the 2001 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. She is Patron of New English Ballet Theatre and appears as Gulnare in English National Ballet’s production of Le Corsaire on DVD and Ballet on Demand

…I could have watched the neat, fleet Erina Takahashi all night

The Daily Telegraph