Awaji World Ballet, a group of ballet dancers and instructors who came to Japan through the Ukraine Support Project and dancers in Japan, will hold a new performance “World Ballet Expo: Thousand Cranes Connecting Thousands of Wishes” at the former Asombre Hall in Awaji City on June 21 (Sat) and 22 (Sun), 2025.
Table of Contents
Overview of World Ballet Expo ~ Thousand Cranes Connecting Thousands of Wishes~
Pasona Group launched the “Pasona Group Ukraine Support Project” in May 2022 to assist Ukrainian refugees to evacuate to Japan, live a new life on Awaji Island, and build a new career afterwards.
Awaji World Ballet was established as a place for ballet dancers who came to Japan as part of this project, and various performances have been held so far.
This performance is based on the theme of the Japanese folktale “The Returning of the Favor by the Crane,” which was performed by Awaji World Ballet last December at the Latvian National Opera as the first solo performance ever by a Japanese ballet company. We will extract famous scenes from the performance done in Latvia called “The Returning of Gratitude by the Crane – With Wishes of Gratitude and Peace” and deliver them in an original composition only for the performance on Awaji Island.
Please enjoy this heartwarming story of a crane returning the favor to humans with the graceful ballet and the live music of the Music Island Orchestra that expresses the scene in rich tones.
Date:
June 21 (Sat.) and 22 (Sun.), 2025
Time:
Doors open at 3:30 p.m.
Concert begins at 4:00 p.m. (a performance is approx. 75 minutes long)
Venue:
Former Asombre Hall
Prices:
General Admission: 4,000 yen (tax included)
Elementary, Junior high and high school students: 2,000 yen (tax included)
*No admission for preschool children and younger
Ticket Reservation and Purchase
Inquiries
Awaji World Ballet (Office / Academy)
TEL 050-3816-3651（9:00 a.m.～ 6:00 p.m. ※Closed on Thursdays)
Performers:
＜Composition, Direction, Choreography, Performances＞
Emi Hariyama
Graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School at the top of her class.
After working with the Moscow Music Theatre Ballet Company, Boston Ballet, and other companies, she worked with the Berlin State Ballet led by Malakhov.
In recent years, in addition to her activities as a dancer, she has been planning and producing performances, and has been appointed as an international exchange ambassador for Suita City and as a program director of the dance department at the Toyonaka City Cultural Arts Center.
＜Dancers＞
Tomotaro Kura
Nelia Ivanova
Svetlana Shlichtel
Maria Volokovina
Sofia Shayko
Anastasia Levkut
Sofia Valenshko
Sergey Lomovitsky-
Constantin Tsaplica
Taras Kovshun
Oleksiy Gogidze
Margarita Dushakova
Katerina Evchikova
Souma Yokota
Haruhi Yamamoto and others
＜Musice＞
Music Island Orchestra
A Workshop to be Held at the Same Time
You can take a workshop lesson on stage from a former instructor of the Kyiv National Ballet School.
Fee: 2,500 yen for participation, 1,000 yen for observation.
Time:1:45 p.m.~3:00 p.m.
Access:
The former Asombre Hall can be reached by 1. car, 2. highway bus, or 3. ferry.
- by car
5 minutes south from Awaji IC, go to “A” Parking Lot” → Take a temporary shuttle bus - By highway bus
Take the Oiso bus, 9 minutes from “Kosoku Maiko” “to “Iwaya Junior High School Mae” → walk - By ferry
Take Jenova Line, 13 minutes from Akashi Port to Iwaya Port→Take a temporary shuttle bus
