MISAKO BALLET COMPANY

Description

History

Misako Aoki opened Misako Ballet Studio in 2003. Her mission was to teach ballet rigorously while also empowering
students to feel the joy of their self- expression through dance. For her personally, ballet allowed her to
stretch the limits of what she thought her body could do and gave her confidence that spread through her
whole life-She wanted students to benefit from that experience too. It was tough in the beginning
managing a studio, teaching classes, mothering two girls and being an immigrant with a Japanese
primary language, navigating the demands of owning a small business. But she have always been blessed
with people who supported and encouraged me along the way. Plus, her resiliency as a Japanese woman
helped her endure the tough times.

Three years later, she went a step further and formed a professional dance company, Misako Ballet
Company, as a way to share her joy and love of ballet to Marylanders, to expose the community to
Japanese culture in a unique way and to provide an avenue for her best dancers to showcase their talent
to a wider audience.