Japanese man appointed Ukraine national ballet’s new artistic director

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:24 JST, December 12, 2022

The National Opera of Ukraine announced this month that a former Japanese member of its ballet company has been appointed the company’s new artistic director.

Nobuhiro Terada, 46, who hails from Kyoto, is the first Japanese person to assume the post.

The distinguished company was founded in the 19th century and used to be known overseas as the Kiev Ballet.

Terada trained in Kyiv, a sister city of Kyoto, beginning in 1987 and became a member of the company in 1995. In 2021, he became the company’s acting artistic director.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he worked tirelessly to find ballet companies and schools that would accept displaced dancers and ballet students who had evacuated Ukraine.

“I’m very happy, though it’s a tough job,” Terada said of his new post. “I think all we can do is to keep going forward.”