Yoko Morishita

Morishita, Yoko (b Hiroshima, 7 Dec. 1948). Japanese dancer. The first Japanese ballerina to achieve international acclaim. She studied with Michiko Suwa and Akiko Tachibana in Tokyo and later with Mikiko Matsuyama. She also studied with Igor Schwezoff in Tokyo, with Marika Besobrasova in Monaco in 1975 and with Alexandra Danilova in New York. In 1971 she joined the Matsuyama Ballet Company in Tokyo as a principal, eventually becoming prima ballerina. She made her debut as Odette-Odile with the Matsuyama Ballet in 1975; her first Giselle followed in 1977. She appeared as a guest artist with many companies around the world, including American Ballet Theatre, the Paris Opera, and the Stuttgart Ballet. She danced the leading role in Béjart's new work, Light, in 1982 in Brussels, as well as taking part in the Margot Fonteyn World Tour in 1978 and 1979. She was frequently partnered by Nureyev on concert tours and danced Kitri in his production of Don Quixote for the Nureyev Festival in London in 1980. She created the role of Moe in Shimizu's Mandala which the Matsuyama Ballet brought to the Edinburgh Festival in 1988. Gold Medal, Varna, 1974. She married the choreographer Tetsutaro Shimizu.

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