Mizuka Ueno

Career Trajectory

Beginning ballet at age five in Japan, Mizuka Ueno secured a Prix de Lausanne Scholarship at fifteen and trained in Monaco under Marika Besobrasova, absorbing both classical technique and the modernist vision of Maurice Béjart. Her professional debut in 1998 with the Asami Maki Ballet Company established her as a principal dancer of exceptional refinement, and over two decades she has commanded the great classical roles while becoming one of the world's few authorized interpreters of Béjart's *Boléro*. Now in her fifth decade, Ueno remains an active and celebrated artist, honored by the Japanese government in 2023 for her sustained contributions to international ballet.