BALLET
several times and was enthusiastically received by Chinese audiences. In Toyama prefecture, Asami Maki Ballet Tokyo company, which has a similar long history, mounted a performance of Asuka in 2016. Nina Ananiashivili, a 2017 recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, was a part of this renewed work with a contemporary touch. Tani Momoko Ballet company, founded by the legendary ballerina Tani Momoko, who passed away in 2015, appointed a new artistic director, Takabe Hisako, who had been cultivated in this company. Founded in the 1960’s, a number of somewhat younger ballet companies recently appointed female artistic directors such as SaitĹ? Yukari in Tokyo Ballet Company, Adachi Etsuko in Tokyo City Ballet company, and Oyama Kumi in Star Dancers Ballet company. The increase of female leaders shows the trend of our time. These 098
ballet companies produced triple-bill-type performances of classic and modern large works together with Western middle-sized masterpieces. For example, Tokyo Ballet produced works by Maurice Bejart and Roland Petit, Star Dancers Ballet made performances of William Forsythe and George Balanchine, and Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre produced Kenneth MacMillan programs with two premier works in Japan. Public Juridical Foundation Japan Ballet Association, enjoying the membership of all the ballet professionals in Japan, produces performances unifying its regional branches and competitions. In terms of noteworthy performances of groups and individuals, Choreographer Shinohara Seiichi had a series of recitals primarily casting his famous dancer wife Shimomura Yurie, producing works such as Romeo and Juliet, which in 2006 received the Grand Prize at the National Arts Festival of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.