K-Ballet Company

Tetsuya Kumakawa who won the gold medal at the prix de Lausanne in 1989 and the former principal of the Royal Ballet embarked on forming a company that would be based in London but tour in Japan.

He founded K-Ballet Company in 1999 and had an opportunity to introduce new and different styles of ballet to Japanese audiences and, in time, started to change the Japanese dance world. Within four years of rapid expansion K-ballet Company has become one of the leading Japanese ballet companies. Their repertory includes Frederick Ashton’s Rhapsody, The Dream, Tales of Beatrix Potter, The Two Pigeons, Thais pas de deux and Façade; George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Serenade, Prodigal Son and Symphony in C ; Nureyev’s production of Raymonda (Act3); Kenneth MacMillan’s SideShow and Winter Dreams; Adam Cooper’s Six Faces; and Roland Petit’s Le Jeune homme et la mort and Bolero.

© Shunki Ogawa

He produced his own versions of Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire and Romeo and Juliet. In 2004, his performance in Ashton’s Rhapsody at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York was highly regarded. In January 2006, He also created Beethoven Symphony No.9, Wolfgang, Passing Voice and Solitude. In January 2006, he perfomed Don Quixote at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. In 2006, the K-Ballet Company received the 5^th Asahi Performing Arts Award for its performances of Don Quixote and The Nutcracker. In 2011, Kumakawa was also invited to be the Artistic Director for Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo.

© Shunki Ogawa

In 2013, He was awarded the medal of honour with purple ribbon from the government which are given for people who have made outstanding contributions in academic field and the arts.

Visit K-Ballet Company