Japanese ballerinas all set for today’s show

The two young Japanese ballerinas who will be joining Russian ballerinas Dasha Sosnina and Nikolai Kalabin said they are all set to pirouette their way to the hearts of the island’s high-heeled crowd in tonight and tomorrow night’s presentation of Swan Lake and Concert of Ballet Stars.

Aya Muto, 20, and Saeka Kato, 21, are on Saipan for the very first time. They came all the way from Tokyo Wednesday to join the other performers for this year’s ballet presentation. Both said they are very excited and looking forward to tonight’s show.

Kato said she could not help but immediately fall in love with the island because of its tropical setting and its warm temperature. Muto agreed.

Both girls said this is not the first time that they would be performing side-by-side with world-class Russian ballerinas.

Both performers are students of Japan’s Takagi Ballet School of Tokyo. Mentor and founder Yoshiko Takagi flew the girls from Tokyo to Saipan. She said it is also her first time to be in the CNMI. She said she was also excited to have been invited by Glushko’s Academy of Performing Arts.

Takagi is the founder of the ballet school in Tokyo, which has established several branches around the Japanese capital city. She has been practicing ballet for 45 years now and teaches more than 150 students in her main school. She said she is bringing to Saipan two of her best students, which is the main reason she is asking the community to come and see their show.

The ballet instructor said if she would be invited again to perform for the CNMI community next year, she would bring some of the younger set of ballerinas to complement the young ballerinas in the CNMI.

Takagi said ballet as an art in Tokyo has really picked up and still growing every year. She said there are more schools and bigger ones that are being established for the Japanese aspirants.

Sosnina and Kalabin arrived on Saipan Monday. The two are alumni of the famed Perm State Opera and Ballet Theater School in Russia. The school is said to be one of the top three ballet schools in the entire country. It took the two performers two days to come to Saipan all the way from Perm, Russia.

Glushko’s Academy of Performing Arts director Ana Glushko will also dance in the show. She will perform with local and guest ballet dancers in the first part and then collaborate with professionals in the second.

Glushko said her company aims to bring world-class ballet entertainment to Saipan.

Curtains draw open for Swan Lake and Concert of Ballet Stars tonight, Dec. 9, and tomorrow night, Dec. 10, beginning 7pm at Hotel Nikko Saipan’s Theatre Hall.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children and sold at all Shell gas stations, Ebisuya, Thai House Restaurant, Glushko’s Academy of Performing Arts, and at the door of Hotel Nikko Saipan in event night.