Yoshida Miyako

Artistic director of ballet and dance, New National Theater Tokyo. Won the Prix de Lausanne in 1983 and entered the Royal Ballet School the same year. In 1984, she joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (now the Birmingham Royal Ballet) and was promoted to principal in 1988. In 1995 she joined the Royal Ballet, where she danced as principal until leaving in 2010, as part of a total 22 years of dance in Britain. In Japan, her performances date back to the special performance of Sleeping Beauty to mark the opening of the New National Theater Tokyo in 1997. She is actively engaged in nurturing the talents of the next generation of dancers, and is a judge at the Prix de Lausanne. She was appointed an Artist for Peace by UNESCO in 2004 and an Artist for Refugees by the UNHCR Agency in 2012. Her numerous awards include the UK Best Dancer Award in 2006, the Purple Ribbon Medal and an OBE in 2007. She was made a Personal of Cultural Merit in Japan in 2017.