The last time I saw Erina Takahashi, a lead principal dancer with English National Ballet, she was sweeping the floors of London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
It was 2021 and the opening night of Creature – Akram Khan’s ballet inspired by Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – and her character, Marie, spent much of her time with a mop in her hand. The broadsheet reviewers gave the show two stars.
Despite this, it is one of her favourite ballets. ‘I love the emotional depth of Akram’s contemporary style,’ she says. ‘But I equally love dancing beautiful classical ballets such as Romeo & Juliet and Manon.’
It’s a Wednesday morning in May and I’m sitting in a rehearsal studio in East London’s Mulryan Centre for Dance, the home of English National Ballet (ENB).
In the corner, a pianist plays classical tunes on a Yamaha while the ballet mistress guides Takahashi, 45, and her fellow dancers through relevés, pliés and passés at the barre. Occasionally she adjusts the form of some of the younger ballerinas.
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Halfway through this 90-minute warm-up before a full day of rehearsals, the dancers swap their ballet shoes for pointe shoes. I notice Takahashi’s toes are covered in plasters.
I’m a fan of ballet from the stalls, and pointe work is my favourite technique to watch. Yet from the look of discomfort on the dancers’ faces, I might be the only one enjoying it today.
‘It’s painful,’ she tells me later. The hallway outside is lined with rails of costumes for the upcoming production of Cinderella, in which she’ll be performing the titular role.
Pointe work is painful. I have a lot of hard skin on my toes
‘It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been doing this; I still get blisters and bruises. Especially when I’ve had a break. That is why near the end of a holiday, I’ll wear pointe shoes at home to get my feet used to it again.’
Every pointe shoe is handmade and each pair is slightly different. The dancers are given ten pairs per month from specialist shops such as Freed of London and Bloch.
It takes Takahashi two or three classes to break them in (‘I’ll rarely put on a new pair for rehearsals or shows’) and, depending on the ballet, she’ll need a softer or harder pair.
‘Swan Lake is a lot of pointe work. I like to have different shoes for acts two and three, so I’ll need at least three pairs for one performance. Cinderella is softer, and a lot of footwork.’
As she takes off her socks, Takahashi warns me: ‘I have a lot of hard skin on my toes.’ I’m expecting blood, maybe a few missing nails, but for someone who’s been dancing for 40 years, her feet don’t look bad at all.
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Born in Kushiro, Japan, Takahashi started dancing at her local ballet studio at the age of three. She briefly quit at 11 to do rhythmic gymnastics, but soon realised she’d made a mistake.
In 1993, aged 15 and unable to speak English, she auditioned for the Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School. She got into both, but decided the latter was a better fit – it was a smaller school then, with intimate classes her parents felt would suit her shy personality more.
After graduating in 1996, she joined the ENB company and, by the Christmas 2000 season, had danced her way up to principal, the highest ranking at the time.
Today, she’s one of four lead principals at ENB and also one of its oldest dancers. But with age comes experience, which is obvious from the way she moves across the room – light on her feet and not a toe out of line.
‘It’s easy to forget how old I am because I’m surrounded by young dancers,’ she says, ‘though watching them reminds me of what my body used to be able to do. I need longer to warm up now, and to recover afterwards.’
Ballet is often condemned for its diet culture, but she assures me she’s never restricted herself. ‘If you don’t eat well, you won’t have the energy or power to dance. Your muscles will ache.’
She doesn’t like to use the word ‘diet’, but instead talks about ‘healthy choices’. Breakfast is muesli, yogurt and fruit, lunch is usually a sandwich, and dinner is a variation on meat and veg. During the day, she snacks on a protein bar and hydrates with water and electrolyte drinks.
During ‘office hours’ (10.15am to 4.30pm weekdays, 2.30pm on Saturdays), Takahashi will be in ENB’s dance studio or gym doing pilates-based exercises.
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Downtime is spent with her husband, first soloist James Streeter, who she married in 2011, and their son Archie, six.
It’s not unusual for dancers to be together – I’m told there are quite a few couples at ENB. ‘Our work is demanding, both physically and mentally. It’s something people on the outside might find hard to understand.’
But the hard work pays off, too. Takahashi has travelled the world, performing in some incredible places, from Romeo & Juliet at London’s Royal Albert Hall to Swan Lake on a makeshift stage on the lake at Versailles.
However, the most memorable performance is Glastonbury, dancing Akram Khan’s Dust on the Pyramid Stage with her husband in 2014.
‘I’d never experienced anything like it. At the end of the duet, when I was sitting on James’s thigh, I could see how many people were in the audience. We weren’t sure how they were going to respond but when we finished, you could hear a pin drop.’
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I wonder, after four decades of ballet, what comes next. ‘I’m not expecting to dance for ever,’ she says, ‘but I don’t know when I’ll retire.’
A fan of yoga and pilates, she’s thought about becoming an instructor, but the most likely path for her is to become a ballet mistress.
‘I love helping the younger dancers, not just with their steps but with personal struggles, and seeing them improve.’
As for whether she would ever leave English National Ballet? It’s not likely. ‘I grew up here, I love this company,’ she says.
- ENB’s Cinderella is at London’s Royal Albert Hall until 25 June; visit royalalberthall.com
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