Hikaru Kobayashi

Hikaru Kobayashi (小林ひかる, born 19 September 1976) is a Japanese ballet dancer who was a first soloist with The Royal Ballet in London.

Biography Born in Tokyo, she started ballet at age three after seeing Swan Lake on television. At age 15, she decided to apply to the Paris Opera Ballet School, though she was told the school did not accept foreigners. She got the contact informations from the French embassy. She was accepted, making her the first Japanese student there, though she discovered there were other foreign students.

After she graduated in 1995, as the Paris Opera Ballet did not accept foreigners at the time, she danced with Jeune Ballet de France for a year, then moved to Zürich Ballet. She won the first prize at the International Competition of Vignale Danza in 1998.

Selected repertoire

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