Mission Statement:
Misako Ballet Company creates classical ballet and Japanese-themed performances to bring joy to our community and increase awareness of Howard County's cultural diversity.
AVAILABLE FOR YOUR EVENT
Misako Ballet Company is available to dance at your cultural, corporate, multicultural, or educational events!
Misako Ballet Company creates classical ballet and Japanese-themed performances to bring joy to our community and increase awareness of Howard County's cultural diversity. Artistic director, Misako Aoki and the Professional and Student Company dancers present “classical ballet with a Japanese twist”.
Additionally, our Japanese Cultural Workshop is suitable and adaptable for students of all ages. MBC will visit schools to present an interactive introduction to Japanese culture and dance. Activities include learning introductions, greetings and counting in Japanese; storytelling; and dance.
MBC normally charges a fee for these unique opportunities as our dancers are paid professionals.
A Letter from the Artistic Director
My background and training is in classical ballet, so of course, I’ve always been interested in creating traditional ballet pieces for performance - Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Esmeralda, and so on.
And I am Japanese, so whatever I do is with Japanese spirit.
When I created Misako Ballet Company, I wanted to present a form that combined Western style ballet with Japanese culture. From there, our company theme "Classical with a Japanese Twist" was born. And I started to make one-act ballets based on Japanese folktales. Beautiful, funny, interesting, and always with a life lesson.
Through our ballets, I want our audience to share in the fun from my childhood in Japan. Going through narrow streets and climbing up small mountains and fishing at rivers. Children running around and playing together outside using small Japanese toys around the wells. Playing at the yard of shrines and temples.
Music is an important element in my choreography. It inspires my decision making - as do my dancers.
I am so lucky to have dancers who are all devoted to this company. Ballet is very hard work. We practice again and again and again. We labor over detailed changes and corrections to continuously improve.
And ultimately, our dancing tells a story we hope you will enjoy. I look forward to seeing you at our next performance.
- Misako Aoki
Misako Aoki, Artistic Director began her dance training in Japan and later at the Royal Ballet School in London. From there she joined the Matsuyama Ballet Company, one of the major companies in Japan. With them she performed in Europe and China with Rudolf Nureyev. After moving to the United States, Misako founded her own studio and taught at Towson and UMBC. She was also a rehearsal assistant for the Moscow’s Ballet Nutcracker and the Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Hippodrome. Misako is the Artistic Director of Misako Ballet Company (a non-profit, professional dance company). She has served as a scholarship review panelist for Howard County Arts Council for several years and as a Dance panelist at Maryland State Arts Council in 2015. Ms. Misako Aoki is the recipient for the Howard County Arts Council’s FY 2019 Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant.
Misako Ballet Company Dancers
Sara Bradna is originally from Chicago, Illinois. She began her dance training in Oak Park, Illinois, at the Academy of Movement and Music where she performed with Momenta!. Sara continued her training with Homer Bryant, performing with Bryant Ballet of Chicago. She went on to train with Dolores Lipinski-Long and Larry Long at Ruth Page Center for the Arts where she performed with Ruth Page’s Chicago Civic Ballet. Since relocating to the Washington, DC area, Sara has performed professionally with Nancy Flores, Moveius Contemporary Ballet, and Olney Ballet Theatre. Aside from dancing, Sara enjoys spending time with her husband, Trevor, and their two dogs, Lula Mae & Milo.
Misei Daimaru is a professional dance artist and teacher with over 20 years of experience. She draws on her eclectic background to produce unique and lasting experiences on stage as a performer and in the studio as an instructor. As a graduate of the reputable Alvin Ailey Dance School, Ms. Daimaru believes that dance should be available for anyone who has a passion to experience it. A few of her professional credits include The MetropolitanOpera, Janusphere Dance Company, Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre.
Audrey D. Martin studied many forms of dance from age 3-23 and studied professionally at Joffrey Ballet School. She has performed many classical ballet works, such as The Nutcracker, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swan Lake, and Viva Vivaldi, a Cunningham Event, and many other small works. She was an Apprentice with Ballet Theater of Maryland and is now a new company member of Full Circle Dance Company.
photo by jennifer lowe photos
Jessica Markiewicz received her early training with Barbara Willis at the Carter School of Dance, and continued her training at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland under Vyacheslav Mesropov. Ms. Markiewicz has attended summer programs at The Washington School of Ballet, the Kirov Academy in Washington D.C., and American Ballet Theater. She has also received her Cecchetti Intermediate certificate. Jessica graduated with a B.A. in Dance from Goucher College, and also has an M.A. in Dance Education with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University. She has been a member of Misako Ballet Company since 2007, and currently teaches dance in AACPS.
Roman Mykyta developed an interest in Ukrainian dancing at an early age and joined the Lyman Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Baltimore, MD. Shortly after, he began studying the Cecchetti Method of ballet at the National Ballet School in Bowie Maryland, under the direction of Pamela Moore. He continued his studies with teachers Bat Udval and Evgenia Singur in the Vaganova Ballet Technique at the Carroll County Dance Center and Ballet Conservatory. In 2014, Roman joined the Ballet Theatre of Maryland under the artistic direction of Dianna Cuatto where he danced for three seasons. Throughout his career, Roman has deepened his knowledge in character and folklorique styles and techniques. Beginning in 2017, Roman had the opportunity to study in Ukraine as a guest at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, to work with the Studio Company of the Virsky National Ukrainian Folk Ensemble and to perform with the Horlytsya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble in Kyiv and the Yunist Honored Ukrainian Folk Ensemble in Lviv. Since 2019, Roman has studied at the National Pedagogical University Dragomanova in Kyiv, Ukraine and has taught and choreographed throughout Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ukraine.
Charles Sacco’s dance journey began with a love of the Jazz Funk style. He danced tap, jazz, and hip hop for a combined four years before being accepted into Patapsco High School’s dance magnet under the direction of Claire Sweet and Laura Brown. After high school, he obtained his Associate of Fine Arts in Dance from CCBC followed by his Bachelor of Arts in Dance from UMBC. When he is not dancing with Misako, Charles is substitute teaching for Baltimore County Public Schools, instructing hip hop for KC Dance and Fitness, and teaching jazz with Belair Dance Academy.
Carlee Roscoe graduated from Carroll Community College with an associates in Arts. She has been trained in various styles of dance such as ballet, jazz, modern, musical theater, tap, and hip-hop for 18+ years. She began choreographing in high school as a freshman with their dance team and for their musicals. Since 2018, she has been the choreographer for Westminster High School’s musicals and has grown very fond of teaching non-dancers that they can, in fact, dance!
Robyn Fu began her dance education at an early age in her childhood home in Bethesda, MD with her mother, who had been Russian-trained in Sydney, Australia. She went on to train in Shaolin and Tai-chi martial arts forms, eventually switching back to dance forms in her early teens with a teacher from the Royal Ballet Tradition. In 2013, she began to pursue hardcore professional training across an array of studios in the greater DC area, Baltimore, and NYC with a myriad of masters; most notably Anatoly Kucheruk from the Bolshoi Theatre at CityDance Strathmore and Elena Kunikova from the Kirov Theatre, at Steps on Broadway. At the age of 25, she moved to Ukraine to pursue a B.A. in Ballet at Kyiv Choreographic College training in the Vaganova Tradition, where she met her husband at the conclusion of her second year. She then took a gap year for pregnancy, during which time she danced as a contractor, with the Kyiv Modern Ballet, for a German art film for Museum exhibition. After the invasion, she spent over a year recovering from war, childbirth, and surgery at Tzu Chi University in the “Land of Great Love,” in the countryside of Hualien, Taiwan with her husband and baby, heavily influenced by Japanese culture. She returns to the stage under the meticulous tutelage of Misako herself, whose mission and style resonates deeply.
Artistic Recognition
Ms. Misako Aoki is the recipient for the Howard County Arts Council’s FY 2019 Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant!
We are incredibly honored to announce that out Artistic Director Misako Aoki has been awarded the 2019 Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant from Howard County Arts Council.
This grant program was established to "recognize individual creative expression and to provide financial assistance to choreographers to create a new work and to broaden opportunities for artists and encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence."
Mr. Ryder was an established mover and leader in the community, dancing alongside Martha Graham in the 1940s and serving as the Dance Department Chair at University of Maryland before retirement.
We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity and join us in congratulating Misako Aoki!
What our audiences have to say
“Dearest Misako,
I couldn’t wait to tell you what a stunning performance today was, and how grateful I am to have witnessed it.
You continue to bring stellar ballet talent to Maryland, and on behalf of the Council, I truly thank you. The world-class ballet dancers you chose only get better, more exquisite each year. Thank you. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Carla Du Pree”
Photo Gallery
