1. Akane Takada is a Japanese ballerina and a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.
12 Facts About Akane Takada
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Akane Takada is from the Higashishinkoiwa neighborhood in Katsushika, and began ballet training at the Hiromi Takahashi Ballet Studio in nearby Edogawa at the age of three.
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Akane Takada won both a scholarship and an Audience Favorite prize at the Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition in 2008.
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Akane Takada performed in a revival of the Frederick Ashton ballet Rhapsody, receiving praise from Sarah Crompton of The Telegraph for her performance as a soloist.
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Akane Takada's performance was praised by Zoe Anderson in The Independent, with the critic observing that Takada's qualities suited "Kitri's mischievous nature".
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Akane Takada was promoted to principal dancer in 2016 at the age of 26.
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Akane Takada debuted in the lead role in Giselle later that year alongside Thiago Soares, with Clement Crisp of the Financial Times describing her as a "Giselle of subtle power".
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Akane Takada paired with Steven McRae to dance the roles of Titania and Oberon in the Frederick Ashton ballet The Dream in 2017, with Judith Mackrell of The Guardian commending the pair for their footwork and their distinctively dark portrayal of the characters.
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Akane Takada performed in another Wayne McGregor piece, titled Infra, in 2018, but her performance was criticized for lacking emotional power and weight despite its technical quality.
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Later that year, as Nikiya in a production of La Bayadere, Akane Takada again danced with McRae, drawing praise from Laura Freeman of The Spectator for her "air of otherworldly detachment and exquisite lightness of line" but criticism for an ineffective pairing.
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Akane Takada missed the Royal Ballet's 2019 summer tour of Japan, in which she was scheduled to perform the role of Kitri in the Japanese premiere of Don Quixote, due to injury.
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In November 2019, during a performance of The Sleeping Beauty, Akane Takada was injured during the first act, and was replaced in the rest of the performance by Yasmine Naghdi.