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Yukichi Hattori made a name for himself as a soloist with Alberta Ballet. When it comes to making gyoza, however, he’s only too happy to share the spotlight.

Yukichi Hattori made his name as a soloist with Alberta Ballet. But when it comes to making gyoza, he’s happy to share the spotlight.

when Yukichi Hattori asked his mother, Kuniko, for her gyoza recipe, she laughed. “There isn’t a recipe,” she said. Hattori learned at his mother’s side, and has made them ever since leaving home in Tokyo 22 years ago.

Hattori’s parents were actors and worked long, odd hours—on days off, they would make gyoza with whatever was on hand, meaning the dumplings were never the same twice and never got boring.

“Every culture has that dish that deals with leftovers,” says Hattori, stretching and occasionally pirouetting in the kitchen when not chopping, mixing or filling dumplings. Hattori and his wife, Galien Johnston-Hattori, met as dancers in the Hamburg Ballet before moving to Calgary. Both recently retired from the Alberta Ballet and opened the H/W School of Ballet in Currie Barracks (hwballet.com).

At home in McKenzie Towne, Hattori makes dinner every Sunday night—it might be hot pot, sukiyaki or a Japanese curry. His kids Mae and Luka help out with the gyoza; sometimes they have friends over for gyoza nights, and everyone fills and pinches the dumplings before Hattori cooks them. “Every time we make them,” he says, “it becomes a family affair.”