The doyenne of English National Ballet, Lead Principal Dancer Erina Takahashi has graced the stage for 28 years
(image credit: Erina Takahashi as Medora in ENB’s Le Corsaire © Laurent Liotardo)
Erina Takahashi calls English National Ballet home. Born in Hokkaido, Japan, and trained at the Kushido Ballet Academy in her home town, she left to enter English National Ballet School. She was 15-years-old, spoke practically no English and yet,
“When I went to audition with the School I saw the building and I had a feeling that I liked it. When I was at the School I felt very at home, I felt comfortable even not having my parents around, not being able to speak English.”
These days the School and the company occupy lavish, purpose-build premises in Docklands; but back then both were in Kensington, the school across the road from the company HQ.
‘We were able to see the company rehearsing from the window upstairs, and I just fell in love with the company. So my aim was to join the company; and I was lucky, I got chosen, the director gave me the contract.”
That was in 1996, when she was 17. Five directors later, Erina Takahashi is now a reference point in ENB, occupying the highest rank of Lead Principal, to which she was promoted in 2007, and spoken of with affection and admiration by her colleagues.
“I never felt out of place. Everyone was friendly, and I think it was also because we did a lot of tours (at that time we used to do more tours than now), so the company becomes one family, which I felt straight away when I joined.
“That’s what we still have now, what I love about ENB. I guested with some other companies and yes, they’re amazing companies, but I always felt, I’ve come back to my family.”
Erina Takahashi, Jonah Acosta and artists of ENB in Derek Deane’s Swan Lake in-the-round © Laurent Liotardo
A Glittering Career
In her long career she has danced every major role in the ENB repertoire from landmark classics like Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty to demanding contemporary pieces by Jiří Kylián and William Forsythe. Her preference is for roles that require deep emotional expression:
“I love something very dramatic, it needs to have a story. Not always – for example, I love Billy Forsythe’s pieces, even without a story, I love the music, the movement… but I enjoy it more if there is a story that I can get into and show the dramatic side.”
Among her favourite ballet heroines she singles out Manon and Juliet.
Erina Takahashi as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet © Laurent Liotardo
When we spoke, though, she was preparing to perform two contrasting, yet equally demanding versions of Giselle: the Romantic ballet par excellence, as reconstructed from the 19th original by Mary Skeaping for ENB; and Akram Khan’s hard-hitting, contemporary re-imagining of the story, which premiered in 2016.
Erina Takahashi and artists of ENB in Akram Khan’s Giselle © Laurent Liotardo
A Tale of Two Giselles
Same plot – girl madly in love is betrayed by arrogant, feckless lover, but comes back from the dead to forgive him and save him from the murderous spirits of spurned women who haunt a forest at night – but different emphasis and look, and two radically different choreographic languages.
Erina Takahashi in Mary Skeaping’s Giselle © Isabella Turolla
When she first worked with Akram Khan in Dust, created in 2014 as part of the commemorations of the centenary of World War I, Erina Takahashi was already well know for the ease and elegance with which she tackled the demands of classical ballet; Khan’s demands, though, were something else:
“We started with a workshop creating movement. His movement is [South Indian] khatak, as well as classical technique, and we had to learn lots of hand movements; so, I think that’s where my body started to know his movement.
“When it came to Giselle, I wouldn’t say it wasn’t hard, but I guess because I had a better knowledge of his movement, I was able to take it it easier than the first time.
“And what I find with his movement is that it’s not just the movement – it comes because of the intention behind it.”
Within the space of four months, Erina will reprise her portrayal of the two Giselles: first, the feisty factory worker of Khan’s imagination, and early in 2025 the frail, naive peasant girl of the original ballet.
An unfair question, I know; but did she have a preference? She hesitated for a little while, and then,
“Before I did Akram’s Giselle, Mary Skeeping Giselle was my favourite ballet – I loved it so much, Then this Giselle came and it was a totally new experience. I don’t know which one I prefer; both are so emotional and I think by working with Akram I realised I’m using that technique towards classical too, using that emotion to go deeper, get more intention into the movement.”
Work and Family
ENB is also where Erina Takahashi met her husband, First Soloist James Streeter, who will dance Albrecht to her Giselle in Akram Khan’s ballet. It’s such an intense work – does it spill over into their home life?
“I think we’re lucky that we have a son [seven-year-old Archie], who makes us switch off from work. So, we tend not to bring the work home; as soon as we are home we both become mother and father.”
Maintaining Body and Spirit
In a profession immensely demanding of body and spirit Erina Takahashi remains in peak form, both physically and mentally, after almost three decades with ENB.
“I do lots of Pilates and extra work myself, not just class. Over the years I’ve been very lucky, I haven’t had many big injuries, but even with slight injuries or even some pains I always try to have a little more understanding of why it happened or how I can prevent that pain from becoming an injury.
“I know my weaknesses and what I need to do to maintain my body. Also, now we have a great physio, gym, Pilates, we have the spa – it helps us a lot.”
Known as a ‘perfectionist’, over the years she’s learned to manage her own demands on herself, and she credits the help she has been given to achieve that.
“When I was young I challenged myself so much, I didn’t want to fail, not towards everybody else but for myself. There was a time, especially when I became a principal, when I was up and down, I used to cry a lot if things didn’t happen, but [the then ballet master] David Wall was there for me, and that’s the important thing, always have someone the you can trust, or talk to, or just cry in front of that person.”
Someone You Can Trust
Erina Takahashi was appointed Repetiteur at the beginning of the 2024/25 season, a role she will perform in tandem with that of Lead Principal, and she’s is looking forward to a more formal opportunity to be ‘someone you can trust” for younger colleagues; something she has, in fact, been doing for a while now.
“I want to be there for the young ones, because I went through all this, and when I see someone being upset, I say, It’s OK. They say, ‘sorry I’m crying’, I say, ‘no that’s fine, just cry, you can do it before me‘.
“I love to mentor young dancers, you get to help them but also you get to see them growing and I appreciate that they take my word and I can see them getting better. I’ve been here for a long time, this is my home and with the history we have, I would love to be able to pass on my knowledge to the young generation.’