Guest Coach
Hikaru was born in Tokyo, Japan, and was the first Japanese national admitted to the Paris Opera Ballet School. She studied there from 1992 to 1995, then joined the Jeune Ballet de France.
In 1996, she moved to the Zurich Ballet and in 1999 to the Dutch National Ballet. She won the Grand Prix at the International Competition of Vignale Danza in 1998.
In September 2003, Hikaru joined The Royal Ballet as a First Artist, was promoted to Soloist in 2006, and became First Soloist in 2009.
Her repertoire includes principal roles in The Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora), La Bayadère (Nikiya and Gamzatti), The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy), Giselle (Giselle and Myrtha), and Swan Lake (Odette and Odile).
She has performed in Balanchine’s Apollo (Calliope), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Agon (Pas de Trois), and The Four Temperaments (First Theme), Robbins' In the Night, MacMillan's Mayerling (Countess Marie Larisch) and Concerto pas de deux, Ashton's Thais and La Valse, Forsythe's The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Approximate Sonata, Van Danzig's Four Last Songs, and Van Manen's Five Tangos and Sarcasmen.
Hikaru was a guest principal dancer with The New National Theatre of Tokyo, The Star Dancers Ballet of Tokyo, The Tulsa Ballet in USA, The Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa, and The Bulgarian National Ballet, and participated in numerous international performances and galas.
She retired from The Royal Ballet in 2018 and began studying towards a BSc Honours degree in Sport Fitness and Coaching during the last years of her dancing career. She holds a Certificate of Higher Education in Sports Science, and badges in The Science of Nutrition and Healthy Eating, and Sports Coaching and Psychology.
Currently, Hikaru is an international guest teacher, a personal coach, and an independent producer of ballet performances.
Header photo by Andrej Uspenski.