Shiori Kase to join K-Ballet Tokyo

K-Ballet Tokyo announced on 3rd August 2026 that Shiori Kase will join the company as a Principal on 1st September.

Technically and artistically brilliant Shiori had been with English National Ballet (ENB) in London, the United Kingdom, since 2009. Shed had been a Lead Principal with the London-based company since 2022.

K-Ballet said the Royal Ballet School-trained Japanese ballerina left ENB in July.

As a personal note, I was fortunate enough to witness Shiori's Raymonda in Tamara Rojo's Raymonda in the world premiere and numerous other performances in London. The news came as a bombshell at least to me, but I wish her all the best in her new adventure!

The Japanese company also announced that Ruika Yokoyama will join as a Season Principal. Ruika is a Principal with Thüringer Staatsballett in Germany.

K-Ballet Tokyo was founded by former Royal Ballet Principal Tetsuya Kumakawa in 1999.

The company also announced other joiners and promotions for the 2026-2027 season, as well as leavers at the completion of the 2025-2026 season.

Promoted to First Soloists

• Hayato Takei

• Mayu Tsukada

• Hirotaka Yamada

Promoted to Soloists

• Umeki Mao

• Ibuki Okaniwa

• Yeonghwi Kim

• Aoba Kubota

• Teruki Nakai

• Takafumi Hori

Promoted to First Artists

• Minami Nihonyanagi

• Kanta Kohno

Joiners

• Yuho Osawa

• Honoka Karatsu

• Rin Matsumaru

• Sora Kuwano from K-BALLET Pre-professional Course

• Kengo Saito from K-BALLET Pre-professional Course

• Wakaba Nobuta from K-BALLET Pre-professional Course

• Momota Yasuda from K-BALLET ACADEMY

Leavers

• Okubo Saya

• Rika Tsuji