Shoko Nakamura is a former principal, a dancer at the highness rank, of the Berlin State Ballet and has danced at the center of Europe ballet scene. Because of her charateristics like a large flower and her expressive performance like an actress, she had danced in Europe since she was 16 years old. Now, she has entered her mature life as a professional dancer. She says “The best time as a dancer is limited. So I would like to dance in Japan” in an interview with Tomoko Iizuka.

Nakamura also starred for “Swan Lake” and “Le Corsaire” choreographed by Tetsuya Kumakawa as a guest principal of K-BALLET COMPANY, which is the ballet company Kumakawa made. As she will dance mainly for K-BALLET COMPANY from now, where you can watch her starring in performances. To begin with, she starred in “Carmen” by Kumakawa on October 10. Also she debuted in her favorite “Swan Lake” October 31 in Japan.

“My husband, Wieslaw Dudek who was the former principal of Berlin State Ballet, will also dance as Escamillo. I like a strong character like Carmen. I would like to dance with sexy atmosphere.”

“Swan Lake” is the program which she has danced most in her life. When she was 15 years old, she danced as Odile (The Black Swan) for the first time. It was also “Swan Lake” by Nureyev in Vienna State Opera, where she made her debut as a main character in 2003.

“Until now I have danced many choreographers’ versions of ‘Swan Lake’. Before, I struggled how the White Swan was. But I can focus on the “human” side now. I would like to show new “Swan lake” not as a ballet but as a play performance.”

“Swan lake” is famous for the romance between the White Swan and the Prince Siegfried. But Nakamura says the expression of the feeling was changed after getting older and getting more experiences.

“I couldn’t dance elegantly when I didn’t have enough romantic experiences. The expression was also too powerful and immature. But I can enjoy to dance with the Prince Siegfried gracefully after marriage.”

In the role of the Black Swan, ehe has to do thirty-two fouettés. “It’s very hard physically to dance. That’s why I can explore myself. The ending is different depending on the choreographer. But Kumakawa’s ‘Swan Lake’ is a happy ending. The audience will be happy too!”

She moved to Japan with her family, including her four-year-old Joel too.

“I appreciate my husband. He encouraged me to dance in Japan!”.

Translated from: Sankei Shinbun