Shiori Sano became Artistic Director of The Tokyo Ballet in August 2024, while she continues to serve as the Company’s Ballet Mistress.

Born in Niigata, Japan, she received her modern dance training for a year at the age of seven and began her classical ballet training at the age of eight. She joined The Tokyo Ballet in 1984, promoted to Principal, 1992. Her repertoire includes major roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, La Sylphide, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Maurice Béjart’s works including L’Oiseau de Feu, Don Giovanni, Le Sacre du Printemps, Petrouchka, Bugaku, George Balanchine’s Le Palais de cristal, Félix Blaska’s Tam-tam et percussion, Jiří Kylián’s Perfect Conception among others. She performed in the world premieres of Béjart’s The Kabuki (1986), M (1993), and Jonn Neumeier’s Seven Haiku of the Moon.

From 2005 to 2015, she served as Director of The Tokyo Ballet School where she demonstrated teaching skills and produced many young dancers who joined not only The Tokyo Ballet but major ballet companies in Japan and beyond including The Stuttgart Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, American Ballet Theatre and Hong Kong Ballet. Since 2011, she has also been Ballet Mistress of The Tokyo Ballet.