A 24-year-old Japanese ballerina has been appointed principal artist with the prestigious Australian Ballet, the company has announced.
In an unprecedented promotion, Ako Kondo, a native of Nagoya Prefecture, became the first Japanese dancer to be elevated to the highest rank at Australia's largest classical ballet company.
Artistic director David McAllister made a surprise announcement about her promotion on stage Tuesday night, following her final performance as "Giselle" at the Sydney Opera House.
"Over the past few years Ako has been consistently dancing all of the principal roles. She has continued to develop both as a technician and artist, and has built a wonderful partnership with Principal Artist Chengwu Guo," McAllister said in a statement on Wednesday.
He described Kondo as "a remarkable dancer with a very exciting future ahead of her."
Kondo said the promotion was "a total surprise."
"I was shocked. I did a normal curtain call and all of a sudden David (McAllister) was onstage announcing it. I thought, what is he doing? He had big flowers in his arms and I thought: 'Wait a second, is that for me?' It was special," The Daily Telegraph quoted Kondo as saying.
Kondo wasn't immediately available for comment.
According to the company, she was born in 1991 and started her dancing career at the age of three when at Shiho Kanazawa Ballet Studio. In 2005, Kondo won second prize at the Japan Grand Prix before commencing studies at the Royal Ballet School's International Summer School in 2006.
Kondo subsequently toured with the Dancers Company in 2008 and joined The Australian Ballet in 2010, where she was promoted to senior artist in 2014.
