Ryoichi Hirano

Japanese dancer Ryoichi Hirano is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He joined the Company as a Prix de Lausanne apprentice in 2001 and became an Artist in 2002, promoted to First Artist in 2007, Soloist in 2008, First Soloist in 2012 and Principal in 2016. 

Hirano was born in Osaka and trained at Setsuko Hirano Ballet School. Awards include the 2001 Prix de Lausanne Gold Medal. His repertory with The Royal Ballet includes Rasputin (Anastasia Act III) Albrecht (Giselle), Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty), Leontes and Polixenes (The Winter’s Tale), Espada and Gamache (Don Quixote), Tybalt, Paris and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Onegin (Onegin), Jean de Brienne (Raymonda Act III), Crown Prince Rudolf (Mayerling), Prince (The Prince of the Pagodas, The Nutcracker), Rasputin and Officer (Anastasia), Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Robert Wood (Sweet Violets), Black Knight (Checkmate), Dr Samuel-Jean Pozzi (Strapless), Soldier (Different Drummer), Human (‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café), Fate (Acosta’s Carmen), Creature (Frankenstein), Solor, Lt. Colonel Vershinin (Winter Dreams), Ivan Tsarevich (The Firebird) and roles in Corybantic Games, Elite Syncopations, After the Rain, Woolf Works, Song of the Earth, The Two Pigeons, Gloria, Concerto, Chroma, Viscera, ‘Emeralds’ and ‘Diamonds’ (Jewels), Serenade, Symphony in C, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, Scènes de ballet, Voluntaries, Cinderella, Aeternum Within The Golden Hour, Multiverse, Medusa and Corybantic Games. 

Hirano’s role creations for the Company include in Gemma Bond's Boundless, Asphodel Meadows and in Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project, Infra and Obsidian Tear. 

Ryoichi Hirano is scheduled to perform in Mayerling on 11 April, 25 April and 9 May 2026. He is scheduled to perform in Giselle on 16 February and 21 February 2026.