Kaori Nakamura

PNB Principal Dancer

Biography Photo Gallery
Kaori Nakamura © Angela Sterling

Kaori Nakamura is from Gumma, Japan. She trained at the Reiko Yamamoto Ballet Company and the School of American Ballet. In 1986, she won first prize at the 14th Prix de Lausanne competition in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1988, she won a bronze medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. Ms. Nakamura joined Royal Winnipeg in 1990, where she was made a principal dancer. She joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a soloist in 1997 and was promoted to principal in 1998.

Ms. Nakamura performed the role of the Butterfly in the BBC's 1999 film version of PNB's production of George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, filmed at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. She has performed as a guest artist at the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Melbourne Ballet Festival and with Dancers for Life in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Leading Roles

George Balanchine's Agon, Ballet Imperial, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Concerto Barocco, Diamonds, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Butterfly, Hermia, Divertissement pas de deux), Rubies, Serenade, Square Dance, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Theme and Variations, La Valse, and Who Cares?; August Bournonville's Flower Festival Pas de Deux; Val Caniparoli's The Bridge and Torque; Ulysses Dove's Red Angels and Vespers; Nacho Duato's Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement; Eliot Feld's Intermezzo; Nicolo Fonte's Almost Tango; William Forsythe's In the middle somewhat elevated and One Flat Thing, reproduced; Kiyon Gaines' M-Pulse; Paul Gibson's Sense of Doubt; Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow (Valencienne) and The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora); Robert Joffrey's Remembrances; Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid; Peter Martins' Fearful Symmetries; Mark Morris's A Garden and Pacific; Vicente Nebrada's Lento a Tempo e Appassionato; Marius Petipa's Don Quixote (Kitri), Esmeralda Pas de Deux (staged for PNB by Ms. Nakamura and Olivier Wevers), and Le Corsaire Pas de Trois; Jerome Robbins' Dances at a Gathering and In the Night; Kent Stowell's Carmina Burana, Cinderella (Cinderella), Coppélia (Swanilda), Delicate Balance, Firebird, Kammergarten Tänze, Nutcracker (Clara, Flora), Palacios Dances, Pas de Deux Campagnolo, Quaternary, Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), and Zirkus Weill; Susan Stroman's TAKE FIVE … More or Less; Richard Tanner's Ancient Airs and Dances; Lynne Taylor-Corbett's The Ballad of You and Me; Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia.

Originated leading roles: Stephen Baynes' El Tango, Paul Gibson's The Piano Dance, Kevin O'Day's [soundaroun(d)dance], Kent Stowell's Silver Lining, Twyla Tharp's Afternoon Ball, and Olivier Wevers' Shindig.

Photos of Kaori Nakamura

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