Yuriko Kajiya (加治屋百合子 ''Kajiya Yuriko'', born 1984) is a Japanese ballet dancer who currently performs as a principal dancer with

Houston Ballet Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company, consisting of 59 dancers, produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston dev ...

. Prior to joining Houston Ballet, she danced as a soloist with

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

for seven years.

Early life

Yuriko was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, Japan, and started training with Matsumoto Michiko Ballet when she was eight years old. She moved to China at the age of 10, where she studied with and graduated from the school of the

Shanghai Ballet The Shanghai Ballet Company is the state ballet company for Shanghai. This regional dance troupe organized in 1966 (though they did not settle on the name "Shanghai Ballet" until 1979). They perform a blend of traditional and Western dance style ...

. She won the Best Performance Award in the senior category at the Tao Li Bei National Ballet Competition in 1997, at age 13. In 1999, she was a finalists at the Third International Ballet Competition, held in Nagoya. She won a

Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition a ...

in January 2000, allowing her to continue her training with the school of the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Career

She joined the ABT Studio Company in September 2001, joined ABT's main company as an apprentice in 2002, and became a member of the

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

in June 2002. Effective August 2007, she was promoted to the rank of soloist. Her repertoire at ABT included Kitri in ''Don Quixote,'' Giselle in ''Giselle,'' Gamzatti in ''La Bayadére'', Gulnare in ''Le Corsaire'', Clara, the Princess in Alexei Ratmansky's ''The Nutcracker,'' Olga in ''Onegin'', Lilac Fairy and Princess Florine in ''The Sleeping Beauty,'' the Waltz in ''Les Sylphides'', Miranda in ''The Tempest,'' ''Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux'' and leading roles in ''Ballo Della Regina, Brief Fling'', ''In the Upper Room,'' ''The Leaves are Fading, Petite Mort'', ''Rabbit and Rogue,'' ''Seven Sonatas'', ''Baker’s Dozen, Chamber Symphony'' and ''Theme and Variations.'' Kajiya left ABT to join Houston Ballet as a first soloist in 2014. She gave her final performance with the company with a debut in the starring role of Swanilda in ''Coppélia''. Her partner for that performance was Joseph Gorak. Kajiya joined Houston Ballet with her life partner Jared Matthews to pursue great artistic opportunities. In November 2014, after only 5 months with the company, she was promoted to principal dancer following her performance in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker. Since that time she boosted her repertoire, dancing all of the leading roles within the company with major role debuts in choreography by company director, Stanton Welch. Her repertoire now includes Kenneth McMillan's ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...

'' and '' Mayerling,'' William Forsythe's ''Artifact Suite,'' and Stanton Welch's ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, ...

'', ''Madame Butterfly,'' ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

,'' ''

La Bayadere LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'', ''

Paquita ''Paquita'' is a ballet in two acts and three scenes originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to music by Édouard Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus. Paul Foucher received royalties as librettist. History ''Paquita'' is the creation of French compo ...

,'' and ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'',

Other work

Kajiya starred in the 2007 documentary ''Passion Across a Continent'' and the 2011 documentary ''Yuriko: Ballerina'' which aired on

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

in Japan. In July 2010, she appeared on an episode of the American television series '' So You Think You Can Dance'', alongside her partner and fellow soloist

Jared Matthews American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United Sta ...

. In 2012, she received an Artistic Ambassador Award from the government of Japan.

References

External links

Cupcakes & Conversation with Yuriko Kajiya
''

Ballet News Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

''. 6 March 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kajiya, Yuriko Japanese ballerinas People from Nagoya 1984 births Living people Prix de Lausanne winners American Ballet Theatre soloists