Meet Choreographer Yuiko Masukawa
Yuiko Masukawa is a Japanese choreographer based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Her work brings together the inclusive and iconoclastic ethos of contemporary performance with her deep expertise in ballet. She has worked extensively between Japan and Australia to create connections between her two homes.
In 2026, she premiered a new commission for The Australian Ballet, This Moment, as part of the company’s Signature Works season. This follows on from previous presentations with the company: Standing on a Rising Wave for Bodytorque, Yugen for Frame Festival, and receiving TAB’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer’s Award for her film 3. In September 2025, she presented a full-length performance iteration of 3, a choreographic work for three dancers, a basketball team and a live cinematographer at Narandjerri Stadium in Naarm.
Alongside her ballet practice, her work also extends to contemporary and experimental choreography. This year, she presented Running Machine, a work co-created with an interdisciplinary team of mixed-ability artists from Australia and Japan at the Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT, Japan.
She was the recipient of the Lucy Guerin Inc and EkosDance Company’s Naarm/Solo exchange program (2024–26), a residency and presentation program which has led to co-developing and performing her work Mekar Yang Diam in both Naarm and Surakarta.
In 2025, she undertook a choreographic secondment at Trisha Brown Company under choreographer Lee Serle, supported by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust. Her works have been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance in the 2018 Australian Dance Awards and Design/Technical Achievement in the 2023 Green Room Awards.
Her intercultural work between Japan and Australia takes many forms, including artistic collaboration, reciprocal residencies, leading workshops and teaching, as well as acting as a cultural liaison and interpreter for organisations such as Tokyo Ballet, The Australian Ballet and Terrapin for Asia TOPA.
Explore Yuiko Masukawa’s Work
This Moment, 2026
This Moment expresses the feeling of being completely present. When we are on stage, dancers are attuned to each moment – listening to our bodies, one another and the audience. The work is a celebration of that sense and of these beautiful dancers as they are now.
“Costume, lighting, and movement quality were so beautifully married that the work felt like a tapestry of rippling fabric.”
Belle Beasley, Dance Australia
3, 2025
Choreographed by Yuiko Masukawa, this performance is the evolution of the film work that won The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographers Award. It is a celebration of the virtuosity of dance and the improvisational aesthetics of sport.
Three contemporary dancers – Geoffrey Watson, Louie Wisby and Benjamin Hurley – move through a balletic score in and around a live basketball game. Together with filmmaker Sam McGilp, they create a live screen dance work, presented to the audience in real-time. The work parallels dance and sport, acknowledging their shared expertise and artistry.
“Three by Yuiko Masukawa takes dance out of its expected context.”
Andrew Fuhrmann, The Age
Standing on a Rising Wave, 2024
Standing on a Rising Wave considers the foundations of our actions. It celebrates the seemingly fruitless and meandering pathways that ultimately enrich us. Standing on a Rising Wave also foregrounds the importance of uplifting one another, as we are able to create something collectively that could never be possible alone.
Experience a brand new premiere work by Yuiko Masukawa as a part of our new choreographic project: Future Icons. This production will feature three groundbreaking choreographic voices from all over the world, including Yuiko Masukawa, as they create new works on BalletMet’s world-class company.
Future Icons opens at the BalletMet Performance Space on September 10-12, 2026.