The Dancers
Kihiro Kusukami
Kihiro Kusukami for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Photo credit: Stephen A’Court. COPYRIGHT ©Stephen A’Court
Kihiro Kusukami joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet as a guest artist for Strength & Grace in August 2018 and became a full-time member of the company that September. Kihiro’s first national tour with the RNZB was Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, in which his roles included the Nutcracker Prince and Chinese Tea.
In 2019, Kihiro won acclaim as Rothbart in Black Swan, White Swan by Mario Radacovsky, in the Flames of Paris pas de deux, one of the lead couples in Artifact II by William Forsythe and as Hansel in Hansel & Gretel by Loughlan Prior. He was promoted to Soloist at the beginning of 2020.
Kihiro spent 2017 with Queensland Ballet’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, appearing in productions including Amy Hollingsworth’s Glass Heart, Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, and Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan. Kihiro continued to perform with Queensland Ballet in 2018, in productions including Greg Horsman’s La Bayadère and Carlos Acosta’s Carmen.
Originally from Nagoya, Japan, Kihiro was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Ballet School at the 2013 Youth America Grand Prix, training at the School from 2014 – 16 and performing as a member of the Dancers’ Company of The Australian Ballet. His roles with the Dancers’ Company included Hilarion in Giselle, and in 2016 he also appeared in Houston Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet during the company’s Australian tour.
