8/22/2024
Eri Nishibara, member of the MN Dance Company, a project partner of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia. Born in 1993 in Tokyo (Japan).
Eri’s passion for dance began at the tender age of 3, with classical ballet being her first love. She acquired her first dance skills at the Ikuko Watanabe Ballet Studio in Tokyo. She took part in the Japan International Youth Ballet project, which also facilitated exchanges with international dancers. It was through this programme that she met a dance teacher from the Elmhurst Ballet School, leading to two years of studying there, during which she performed roles, including in the ballet Paquita in 2011. As a result of her successful participation in this two-year project, she was invited by the Elmhurst School to join their study programme. So, at the age of 17, she moved to the UK and enrolled at the Elmhurst School for Dance, which is associated with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. During her time there, she also performed for the Royal Academy of Dance and toured Greece.
After graduating, she joined the National Opera and Ballet Oleg Danovski in Romania under the artistic direction of Monica Chereches, where she not only performed but also began choreographing her own pieces. This encouraged her to dance, and it was during this time that she became more familiar with other dance genres. "That was the turning point when I basically continued my career as a dancer and choreographer in the field of contemporary dance," she points out.
From Romania, her dance career moved to Hungary, where she danced with the Budapest Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Béla Földi. She stayed there until 2018, while also working with ODD Continent in Amsterdam under the artistic direction of Malcom Rock, where she performed in choreographies by Remi Wörtmeyer, who was then a soloist and choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet.
Since 2019 she has been working as a freelance dancer and choreographer in Berlin. Her original work, the contemporary short dance piece 'Phlox', earned her 3rd place in the NCC choreography competition in the Netherlands. She later created a few more short dance pieces, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from further work and performances, prompting her to shift her focus on dance videos. One such video served as her audition for MN Dance Company in 2021 for the production Ikarus. "I was captivated by their choreographic creations and the seamless integration of all stage elements. The creative process itself was a wonderful experience for me. We work every day to get better, which is not always easy. I enjoy their creative process, and I knew immediately that I wanted to continue working with this Slovenian dance collective. That's why I was very thrilled to join the Perpetuum Mobile in 2022. It was a very dynamic and attractive project. I thought Ikarus was the best performance for me so far, but this collective continually surprises me with even more innovative concepts and shows," says Nishibara, who has since performed in all subsequent productions, including To The Moon And Back, DistaAnCE, Border-Line / Mejna črta, Beguni / Flights.
She feels at home in Nova Gorica, particularly in Solkan. "I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Nova Gorica dance ensemble, contributing to the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica - Gorizia, and I would very much like to stay here and work as a dancer in the dance collective of the MN Produkcija Institute," she concludes.
