Risako Ikeda: Dancing Makes the Moment Eternal

Standing on a stage wrapped in a mysterious tension amidst dazzling lights, the world where the sound of applause from the audience spreads was something that felt addictive even to my young heart.

I first encountered ballet when I was four years old. I was captivated by the joy of dancing and the sense of exhilaration when I stood on stage for a recital, and I was instantly hooked. I am deeply grateful to the teachers and friends who understood and supported my efforts to balance my studies and ballet during my ten years at Keio University starting from Chutobu Junior High School.

At a European ballet school I attended on a scholarship during high school, I was confronted with the overwhelming natural physical proportions and mature expressiveness of children my own age. I remember vividly the strong shock I felt. In order to ensure I would not be buried among them, I devoted myself to daily practice, working dozens of times harder than others on my technique until I could call it my strength.

I joined the National Ballet of Japan while still in university. Immediately after joining, I was given the lead role in the full-length production of "Cinderella," but as it was my first full-length work, I felt crushed by an indescribable anxiety and pressure. It was all I could do just to incorporate the many rules into my body, such as the unique steps and positions of the choreographer Frederick Ashton. Looking back, the harsh voices from those around me and the sense of inadequacy I felt within myself after the performance are painful to remember, but this very experience became the driving force for me to think deeply about how to deliver emotion to the audience and how to present myself, and I carry that into every stage I face now.

Four years have passed since I joined the company, and I am expanding the possibilities of dance by internalizing how to approach roles, how to be on stage, and how to use my body. Even so, I feel the endless charm of ballet in the new challenges that arise one after another.

Miyako Yoshida, the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Japan, is sharing the charm of ballet every day through new approaches precisely because of the difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to do my small part to convey the necessity of ballet as a comprehensive art form to as many people as possible.

"Be a person who moves people's hearts." These are the words I received from my mentor at Chutobu Junior High School. Even now, I always remember them before going on stage, savoring the happiness of sharing the same "time" with the audience and inspiring myself.

Hoping that dance will live on forever in the hearts of as many people as possible.