Coryphée
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Reina Sawai trained in Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines and received a one-year scholarship in Portugal. She danced with National Ballet of Portugal, Vienna State Ballet and Boston Ballet before joining Hong Kong Ballet as a Coryphée in 2019.
With Hong Kong Ballet, Sawai has danced the featured roles of Big Swan in John Meehan’s Swan Lake, Egyptian Doll and French Doll in Terence Kohler’s The Nutcracker and Second Twin in Septime Webre’s Peter Pan. Prior to joining the Company, she performed in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Raymonda, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Who Cares and Donizetti Variations, William Forsythe’s Artifact, Pas Parts, Blake Works and Second Detail and Jorma Elo’s Fifth Symphony of Jean Silelius, among others.
Sawai was a semi-finalist at the 2008 Prix de Lausanne and a bronze medalist at the 2009 TanzOlymp in Berlin.