RIO MITANI

Rio is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of ABC-TOKYO Ballet Co. and ABS-TOKYO (Austrian Ballet School), where together with her husband Christian Martinu, she serves as Senior Ballet Mistress and Main Classical Teacher.

Born in Kobe, Japan and raised in Vienna, Austria since age 1, Rio studied at the Vienna Opera Ballet School and the Vienna Conservatory under the direction of Prof. Karl Musil and Prof. Evelyn Teri, graduating at 17 with a perfect score. Rio joined the Austrian Ballet Theatre in Vienna and deepened her studies with Virginia Stankiewicz and Vladimir Tsukanov, student of teaching legend Nicolai Tarasov, who have influenced her profoundly. 

In 1999, to broaden her horizons she embarked on an adventure that would take her to Alaska, Seattle, New York, New Jersey, Vienna and France, dancing leading roles in Giselle, Nutcracker, Flower Fest in Genzano, Les Sylphides and many more. Rio also danced with Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Theater, Fusion Dance Company and served on the Faculty of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Outreach Program. 

In 2002 Rio decided to explore her Japanese roots for the first time, and in 2004 she and Christian Martinu founded the ABC-TOKYO Ballet Co., which took them to Australia, Austria, Singapore, Malaysia, the World Expo, the Vienna Opera Ball in Tokyo for Prince Akishinonomiya of Japan, numerous TV appearances and the Dancing 4 AIDS Orphans Gala with Lynne Charles.

It was there that Rio started to develop her own distinct choreographic style called JAPANISM, fusing Classical Ballet with different entertainment Dance Styles, retelling traditional Japanese stories in a new fashion. In addition to making the high threshold Art of Ballet more accessible and relevant to the lay audience, Rio wanted to give Japanese dancers their own identity within the world of ballet. In an inherently Western classical art form where Asian Dancers were made to feel second class, Rio wanted to develop a style that empowers their cultural uniqueness, that they could own and be proud of.

With her signature piece “Japanism”, ABC-TOKYO was awarded First Prize at the European Ballet Grand Prix in 2020.

In 2009 Rio and Christian founded the Austrian Ballet School-Tokyo (ABS) , the first Professional Ballet Academy in Japan offering Full Scholarships. Within 5 years, ABS went to become one of the leading ballet schools in the country, sending off its students to premiere schools such as the Royal Ballet School, Vienna Opera Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet School, School of American Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet School as well as renowned companies such as the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Ballets de Monte Carlo, Universal Ballet and many others. ABS graduates have been promoted to the highest ranks in their companies. 

Rio’s passion for ballet education has also been awarded with numerous Awards for Outstanding Teachers and was invited to judge Ballet Competitions on national and international panels.

Rio has developed and teaches a method she calls “Vaganova for Japanese”, which artistically and methodically is based on the famous Vaganova method, but takes into account the different physical conditions and limitations of the individual students. She wants to help dancers to overcome their physical weaknesses, so they learn to understand their own bodies better to achieve technical excellence while at the same time dancing with grace and expression.

Believing that the Art of Teaching can only be passed on from one teacher to another, in 2020 Rio launched a pedagogy program for the next generation of young teachers, determined to pass on Mr. Tsukanov’s legacy of exquisite methodology paired with burning passion and unending belief in the students’ potential. 

Rio was gifted with two beautiful children, who are her biggest joy in life. 2023 was the first year Ms. Mitani joins the VKIBC Jury.