Meet the Artistes of Ballet Theatre Malaysia

YUI KYOTANI AND BENJAMIN COOK

Principal Artiste and Soloist Artiste

Previously a student of Choong Wan Chin at Ena Ballet Studio in Japan, Kyotani began her ballet training at age 8 and eventually furthered her training at Berlin State Ballet School. She has danced principal roles in Swan

Lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and La Bayadere, to name a few. In 2021, she was inducted into the Moravian Theatre’s Hall of Fame and became the first foreign Emerita member of Moravian Theatre Olomouc, a fixture in the Czech theatre scene since 1920 and where she was a principal dancer since 2012.

She came here together with fellow dancer Benjamin Cook, whom she worked with in Czech Republic, on Choong’s invitation to do a ballet gala initially, but because of the pandemic, it was not to be. Choong was in the midst of forming the company and at the time, they were looking for a fresh new challenge so the timing was ripe. When they arrived in November 2021, they immediately went straight into rehearsals for their first show, Spectrum, which was due to be staged in December. Thankfully, Kyotani was familiar with the role of Kitri for Don Quixote, which made things easier.

Don Quixote also happens to be a favourite repertoire of hers. “When I was young, it was my dream to dance and it finally came true when I performed it in Czech Republic. It was a good memory for me,” she smiles. Her performance as Kitri garnered her the Thalia Award in 2016 (1st place for Best Ballet Artiste).

Cook’s entry into ballet was kind of a long-standing family tradition. His mum is a ballet teacher and runs a renowned dance school in England, Geraldine Lamb School of Dance. As a young boy, she used to bring him to the dance studios while his dad worked. He would join random classes or “sit down and wait”. As he grew up, he realised his passion for ballet and wound up dancing with the Vienna Festival Ballet, Arts Ballet

Theatre of Florida, Orlando Ballet and finally Moravian Theatre Olomouc performing soloist roles.

When asked what his favourite production is, he said, “I think it has to be The Taming of the Shrew. I had a shoulder surgery and then I came back to work. They made me do this main role and for me it was a big challenge because you had to be quite strong. Because I just had the surgery, I was quite nervous as it was my first big role back. So to be able to do that role and finish it was like a nice achievement. And it was quite a fun ballet to do.”

Kyotani interjects, “It is quite a tough role for men as it is not really classical ballet. There were fighting sequences too.” Adapted from William Shakespeare’s play, it was one of the great ballet comedies of the 20th century. This also marked the first time Cook and Kyotani danced together. The two are set to dazzle audiences in the upcoming repertoire of Carmen.