Aya Watanabe

Biography

Born in Hokkaido, Japan, where she attended the Kushiro Ballet Academy, Aya Watanabe continued her studies at the Ballet School within the National Theatre in Melbourne, Australia (where she received the Jocelyn DeCardi Scholarship). She has performed on stages all over the world, including in Columbia, the USA, Japan, Germany and other countries. In 2005, she joined the Roxey Ballet in New Jersey. Since 2009, she has been with the Czech National Ballet, where in the 2015/16 season she was named a demi-soloist and in the 2016/17 season a soloist. 

With great sensitivity and profundity, she has portrayed the roles of the Mother/Fairy in Cinderella, the Christmas Fairy in The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol (Youri Vámos), the Fairy of Courage in The Sleeping Beauty (Márcia Haydée), Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet (Petr Zuzka), Gamzatti in La Bayadère (Javier Torres), and the Angel in The Nutcracker and the Cuddly Mouse (Petr Zuzka). Aya has also dazzled in modern and neo-classical choreographies, including In The Middle Somewhat Elevated (William Forsythe), Reflections on the Fate of Human Forms (Jacopo Godani), Decadance (Ohad Naharin), Seventh Symphony in A major (Uwe Scholz), Vertigo (Mauro Bigonzetti), as well as in works by Jiří Kylián, George Balanchine, Petr Zuska and Jan Kodet.  

Classical Repertoire

• La Bayadère – Gamzatti (Javier Torres - Marius Petipa)
• The Nutcracker – A Christmas Story – Mrs. Cratchit, Christmas Fairy, Chinese Dance, Waltz – solo (Youri Vámos)
• The Sleeping Beauty – Lilac Fairy, Fairy of Charm (Márcia Haydée - Marius Petipa)
• Swan Lake – Pas de six (John Cranko)

Contemporary and Neoclassical Repertoire

• bpm – Bill (Sharon Eyal), Bohemian Gravity (Yemi A.D.) 
• Forsythe / Clug / McGregor – The Second Detail (William Forsythe),  EDEN | EDEN (Wayne McGregor)
• Kylián – Bridges of Time – Bella Figura, Petite Mort, Gods and dogs, Psalm Symphony (Jiří Kylián)
• Leonce & Lena – Governess (Christian Spuck)
• The Little Mermaid – The Little Mermaid (Jan Kodet)
• The Nutcracker and the Plush Mouse – Mother, Angel (Petr Zuska)
• Ohad Naharin: Decadance (Ohad Naharin)
• Phoenix – Puppet (Douglas Lee), Dos Soles Solos (Alejandro Cerrudo) Prelude und Liebestod (Cayetano Soto)
• Slavic Temperament – Aspects (Katarzyna Kozielska), Dumka (Ondřej Vinklát), Perfect Example (Andrey Kaydanovskiy)
• Solo for the Two of Us (Petr Zuska)
• The Snow Queen – Foxes, Elfish (Michael Corder)
• Timeless – Serenade - Russian Girl (George Balanchine), Le sacre du printemps - Mother (Glen Tetley)
• Vertigo – Rain (Radu Poklitaru), Vertigo (Mauro Bigonzetti)