Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Yuki Tokuda - Season 8, Episode 106

Yuki Tokuda is a ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher, based
in the Twin Cities.
She is originally from Japan and was trained under Mikiko Dei,
Hideo Fukagawa and
Jun Ishii, internationally recognized dancers, teachers and
competition judges. She
moved to the US in 2000 to continue her training in New York at
the Joffrey Ballet
School. Ms. Tokuda has danced professionally with USA Ballet,
Peoria Ballet,
Metropolitan Ballet and she was the principal dancer at
Continental Ballet for 7 years.
With diverse training in classical, contemporary, modern and
jazz, she is an
international guest dancer and collaborator with many companies,
including James
Sewell Ballet and Minnesota Dance Theatre. While training in New
York, Ms. Tokuda’s
instructors included David Howard, John Prinz, Fabrice Herrault,
and Michael Vernon. At Steps on Broadway in New York she was one
of the first International Visa Program students. She has, also,
trained with Boston Ballet and Connecticut Ballet. She has
performed many principal roles, most notably in: Le Corsaire, Don
Quixote Pas de Deux, Les Sylphides, Pas de Quatre, Agnes de
Mille’s Rodeo, Princess Aurora, Lilac Fairy and Princess Florine
in The Sleeping Beauty, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara in The
Nutcracker, Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Coppelia, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and the title roles in Romeo and Juliet, and
Giselle. She has performed at The Walker Art Center, The Ritz
Theater, The State Theatre, The Tek Box, The Ted Mann Concert
Hall, The O’Shaughnessy, The Pantages Theatre, The Intermedia
Arts, The Lab Theatre and Peavey Plaza.

Ms. Tokuda is a faculty member at Minnesota Dance Theatre, Ballet
Co.Laboratory,
Community Movement Collective and a certified STOTT Pilates
Instructor. She has
taught many master classes in Japan and the US including at
Cathedral Dance Festival
and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Her choreography was chosen
for Choreographer’s
Evening at The Walker Arts Center and commissioned by Wayzata
Symphony
Orchestra, Wooddale Church, Cerulean Fire, Japan America Society
of Minnesota,
Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and Threads Dance
Project. She is a
recipient of Minnesota State Arts Board and St. Louis Park Arts
& Culture Grant. She is
a co-director with Rie Tanaka of Mirage Performing Arts where
their mission is
envisioning, enriching and enhancing both the cultures of
Classical Music and Ballet.
She is the owner/designer of YukiTard, a custom dancewear
company, as well as, the
owner/instructor of Tokuda Ballet, a private ballet school.
www.yukitokuda.com