The Tokyo Ballet was founded in 1964 by Tadatsugu Sasaki. As early as 1966, the Company embarked on its first international tour to Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg today) and Kazan.
Since its foundation, The Tokyo Ballet has developed a wide range of repertoire from classical full-length ballets to masterpieces of contemporary choreographers. In particular, the Company has original works created by three choreographers representing the contemporary ballet scene: Maurice Béjart's The Kabuki (1986), Bugaku (1989) and M (1993), Jiří Kylián's Perfect Conception (1994) and John Neumeier's Seven Haiku of the Moon (1989) and Seasons - The Colors of Time (2000). The Company has also staged prominent contemporary choreographers' works, such as Vladimir Vasiliev's Don Quixote, Natalia Makarova's La Bayadère, Mats Ek's Carmen, and John Neumeier's Romeo and Juliet.
With its repertoire including twenty-one works by Maurice Béjart, The Tokyo Ballet is often recognized as a "sister company" of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. It has also shared the stage with world-renowned conductors and orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Having given 786 performances on 35 overseas tours, a record in the history of Japanese performing arts, The Tokyo Ballet is acclaimed as one of the leading ballet companies in the world. It has frequently appeared in many of the world's distinguished theaters, such as the Opéra national de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Opera House, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bolshoi Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Teatro Colón, National Theatre in Singapore, and Century Theatre in Beijing, performing in 156 cities in 33 countries.
In August 2015, Yukari Saito, the Company's former prima ballerina, became Artistic Director of The Tokyo Ballet. During her 9-year tenure, The Tokyo Ballet continued to actively enrich its repertoire with important works from classic to contemporary: William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (2015), Jerome Robbins' s In the Night (2017), Roland Petit's L'Arlésienne (2018), Jiří Kylián's Petite Mort (2018), Anna-Marie Holmes's Le Corsaire (2019), John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet (2022). The Company also world premiered its new production of Tchaikovsky's three great ballets, Swan Lake (2016), The Nutcracker (2019) and The Sleeping Beauty (2023). Remains of a Cloud (2019) by Saburo Teshigawara became the first ballet for the Company created by a Japanese choreographer. Following its great success, KAGUYAHIME by Jo Kanamori, another Japanese choreographer, world premiered in 2023. In the same year the Company made Australian debut as a guest company in The Australian Ballet's 60th anniversary 2023 season and gave 11 performances of Giselle.
In August 2024, The Tokyo Ballet celebrated its 60th anniversary. Aiming at making a new firm start for further evolution, the Company appointed Yukari Saito as Director, and Shiori Sano, who has been Ballet Mistress, as Artistic Director.
