National Ballet
Juri Hiraoka

Arts & Expression, East Asian, Dance

She was born in Chiba, Japan, and began her training at the Hiraki Ballet School there, graduating in 1999. She furthered her training at Canada's National Ballet School, finishing in 2002. Juri became an Apprentice with The National Ballet of Canada in 2002 and joined the company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2003.

Juri has danced a featured role in Wolf's Court as well as roles in La Bayadère, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Onegin, The Sleeping Beauty, The Contract (The Pied Piper), Giselle, The Taming of the Shrew, The Four Seasons, Song of the Earth, Désir, Etudes and George Balanchine's Jewels, Serenade and Theme and Variations.

Juri danced in the world premieres of James Kudelka's An Italian Straw Hat (2005) and Matjash Mrozewski's Monument (2003). She also performed in the company premieres of Michel Fokine's Petrouchka (2006), Nikolaj Hübbe's restaging of La Sylphide (2005) and Jerome Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer (2004).

While at Canada's National Ballet School, she was the recipient of the Peter Dwyer Award.