Kuu
Sakuragi
Kuu Sakuragi is from Bellevue, Washington. He studied on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, where he began as a DanceChance student at the Francia Russell Center. He attended summer courses at Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He was a recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School. In 2017, Mr. Sakuragi joined Alberta Ballet as an apprentice and was promoted to company dancer in 2018. He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2020, and was promoted to soloist in 2023.
At Alberta Ballet, Mr. Sakuragi performed leading roles in Christopher Anderson’s Cinderella, Jean Grand-Maître’s Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and The Drum, Helen Pickett’s Petal, Edmund Stripe’s The Nutcracker, and Wen Wei Wang’s Futureland.
Leading Roles
George Balanchine
Allegro Brillante
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Puck)
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®
(Soldier Doll, Green Tea Cricket, Candy Cane)
Peter Boal
Giselle
(Peasant Pas)
Alejandro Cerrudo
Little mortal jump
Jean-Christophe Maillot’s
Romeo et Juliette
(Benvolio)
Jessica Lang
Ghost Variations
Let Me Mingle Tears With Thee*
Edwaard Liang
The Veil Between Worlds
Vincent Michael Lopez
Op. 21*
Amanda Morgan
This Space Left Intentionally Blank*
David Parson
Caught
Crystal Pite
The Seasons’ Canon
Alexei Ratmansky
Wartime Elegy*
Dwight Rhoden
Catching Feelings*
Kent Stowell
Carmina Burana
Swan Lake
(Jester)
Twyla Tharp
Sweet Fields
Waiting at the Station
(Son)
*Originated Role
Dancer Promotions! Clara Ruf Maldonado, Kuu Sakuragi, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan
Before the curtain-raiser performance of Alexei Ratmansky’s Wartime Elegy on opening night of LOVE & LOSS, Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal and Associate Artistic Director Kiyon Ross announced to the audience that corps de ballet dancers Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi have been promoted Soloists, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan has been promoted to Principal dancer.
Q&A with Corps Member Kuu Sakuragi
How has your approach to your career changed over the past years? My approach to my work has changed due to my experience in dance over time. As I build more confidence in my abilities, the more I can explore and push myself to the next step.
Promotions: Cecilia Iliesiu, Angelica Generosa, & Dylan Wald
PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal Announces Three Promotions during First Look to the Future Gala. Seattle, WA – “It gives me tremendous pleasure to be able to promote three dancers in our company this evening.” As part of the festivities at First Look to the Future, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s first-ever [...]
Q&A with Kuu Sakuragi
Dancing through a pandemic has its plethora of challenges, but lucky for us, Pacific Northwest Ballet has a fully digital season in the works to share with subscribers. Not only are we back in action at the ballet, but we are also thrilled to welcome a new dancer, Kuu Sakuragi, [...]