Meet the 10 Ballet Artists from Dance Magazine’s 2026 “25 to Watch”
Last week, our friends at Dance Magazine released their 2026 “25 to Watch” list. This annual round-up spotlights up-and-coming talent throughout the dance industry, from classical to modern dance, contemporary, breaking, Broadway, and more. Check out this year’s picks from the ballet world below, then click here to read the full “25 to Watch” list.
Dominika Afanasenkov
Soloist, New York City Ballet
It requires courage to take on a role that’s strongly tied to both its originator and one of your company’s current star ballerinas. But when New York City Ballet corps member Dominika Afanasenkov walked onstage for Balanchine’s Errante—a ballet (originally titled Tzigane) created on Suzanne Farrell and memorably reprised last year by principal Mira Nadon—she not only held her own, but gave the role a distinct flavor. Afanasenkov was more authoritative than hot-blooded; she plunged into lunges and backbends with sharp attack while her pliant upper body softened the edges, giving her movement lushness.
Afanasenkov, 21, moved frequently as a child, studying dance in Russia and Switzerland before settling in the Tampa area. At age 14 she entered the School of American Ballet, where she was later featured in the Disney+ docuseries “On Pointe.” Within months of joining the NYCB corps in late 2022, Afanasenkov was cast in Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun. Since then, she’s enjoyed a steady stream of opportunities, including Balanchine’s Movements for Piano and Orchestra (another Farrell role) and Ulysses Dove’s spiky Red Angels, which artistic director Jonathan Stafford calls a “turning point” for her. “That ballet gave her the opportunity to show a real dynamic attack and boldness that we hadn’t seen before,” he says. “Her level of technical execution has always been high, but it’s her artistry that has really set her up for success.” Expect to see her tackling more featured roles in the coming months: She was promoted to soloist at the end of NYCB’s fall season.
—Amy Brandt
Sumi Ichikawa
Dancer, BalletMet
Sumi Ichikawa’s debut as the Lilac Fairy in Edwaard Liang’s Sleeping Beauty was a revelation. Previously, the BalletMet company member had predominantly performed corps de ballet roles, but her ear-kissing extensions, long-lasting balances, and elegant quality of line were complemented by a newfound confidence. This fall, her performance as the defiant yet vulnerable Rebel Captive in artistic director Remi Wörtmeyer’s Rite of Spring solidified her status as an artist on the cusp of company stardom.
The 22-year-old Ichikawa is now in her third season with the company, but she’s long been a part of the BalletMet ecosystem. Born in Columbus, Ohio, she trained from age 6 at BalletMet’s Academy, rising through the company’s trainee program and BalletMet 2 before joining the main company in 2023. Wörtmeyer is quick to praise not just her work ethic and technique but also her “very positive personality.”
Says Ichikawa, “I hope that when audiences see me dance, time freezes for them. It’s how I feel when dancing.”
—Steve Sucato
Shi Jean Kim
Corps member, Tulsa Ballet
An athletic powerhouse, Shi Jean Kim is gifted with bravura technique and astonishing ballon. But the 24-year-old also imbues his performances with artistic sensitivity, curiosity, and whimsy, whether he’s portraying a crazed Renfield in Ben Stevenson’s Dracula or the frenetic White Rabbit in Kenneth Tindall’s Alice in Wonderland. “He is a very special dancer with a great sense of humor,” Tulsa Ballet artistic director Marcello Angelini says of Kim, who joined the main company as an apprentice in 2024 after a season with Tulsa Ballet II.
A native of South Korea, Kim began his ballet training at age 7. He matriculated to Korea National University of Arts at 16 and was a top placer at several ballet competitions before landing in Tulsa, where he is now a member of the corps de ballet.
“When I first discovered ballet as a child and the way my body naturally moved with the music, and how my heart felt free in those moments, it was a way to express emotions that I could never fully capture otherwise,” says Kim. “Onstage, there is a sense of fulfillment and joy that nothing else in life can match.”
—Steve Sucato
Takumi Miyake
Soloist, American Ballet Theatre
Even among a crowded stage of villagers, American Ballet Theatre’s Takumi Miyake stands out. As one of the peasants in the company’s production of Giselle last summer, he beamed with joyful energy. His fouetté sautés hung momentarily midair, perfectly placed, while his pirouettes spiraled endlessly upward, limited only by the fact that he had to finish with everyone else.
Now, Miyake, 22, is leaving corps roles behind him after his promotion to soloist was announced in July. He’s more than ready. In fall 2024, weeks into his first season as a corps member, he danced a principal role in Études, astonishing audiences with nine consecutive double tours. Since then, he’s taken on a stream of featured roles with self-assured charm: Benno in Swan Lake, Eros in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia, Clown in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale, and more.
A native of Japan, Miyake trained with his mother and grandmother, winning ballet competitions along the way. He later attended London’s Royal Ballet School before joining ABT’s Studio Company in 2022. “Takumi has a kinetic presence that commands attention,” says ABT artistic director Susan Jaffe. “There’s an electricity in his dancing that feels alive and fully in the moment.”
—Amy Brandt
Juliette Ochoa
Company artist, Oregon Ballet Theatre
Whether Juliette Ochoa is executing whiz-bang pointe work or fluidly articulating through a contemporary piece, she moves with an eye-catching purity and totality. Trained at the School of Ballet Arizona, BAZ’s Studio Company, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s Professional Division, Ochoa later attended University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. There, she cultivated world-class contemporary skills and performed repertoire by Jiří Kylián, Dwight Rhoden, and more. She joined Oregon Ballet Theatre after graduating in 2021.
Ochoa has recently brought technical brilliance and a luminous stage presence to roles like Dewdrop in Balanchine’s Nutcracker, Queen of the Dew Fairies in Loughlan Prior’s Hansel and Gretel, and Norma Jeane in Dani Rowe’s Marilyn. A confident mover who has excelled at OBT, where she’s in her fifth season, she has the versatility to thrive in diverse and challenging repertoire—and a palpable joie de vivre. “I’m just happy to be dancing,” she says.
—Kyra Laubacher
David O’Matz
Soloist, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
David O’Matz’s progression at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre came fast and furious. Each role the 25-year-old has danced since joining the company in 2022 has raised his profile, but something more seemed to click into place in the last year. As the Cavalier in Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker, his enviable facility, clean technical skills, and leading-man stage presence were captivating. He was equally riveting as Tybalt in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette, portraying an antagonist who was as likely to menace as seduce. His onstage promotion to soloist following his Tybalt debut last February came as no surprise.
A Pittsburgh native, O’Matz trained at the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh before attending San Francisco Ballet School. He danced with The Joffrey Ballet’s Studio Company in 2020 and Orlando Ballet in 2021 before joining PBT. “David exhibits keen artistic sensibilities, and his technical abilities are exceptional,” says PBT artistic director Adam W. McKinney. “He is a demonstrative performer who uses every opportunity to grow personally and professionally.”
Now, O’Matz is focused on becoming a more intuitive partner (“Being able to sense your partner’s needs and wants at any time is a hallmark of many of the best,” he says) and challenging himself to dive fully into his roles.
—Steve Sucato
Ángel Ramírez
Dancer, Atlanta Ballet
Ángel Ramírez lives for moments onstage when he must push himself past exhaustion. “Just forget about being perfect,” he says. “Reach, go for it. That’s when the beauty comes.” Not that the 26-year-old Cuban dancer is anything less than a gifted technician, with effortless buoyancy, fleet precision, and breathtaking elevation. And since he joined Atlanta Ballet in 2021, his onstage magnetism has only grown, with each successive role pushing him to new levels of dramatic depth.
In Helgi Tomasson’s Concerto Grosso, Ramírez gained confidence, hovering in jumps with a bold and seamless lyricism. As Franz in Balanchine’s Coppélia, he inhabited his character with naturalness, then danced a breathlessly fast coda with easygoing radiance. Last fall, Balanchine’s Prodigal Son drew out an even richer emotional range.
Ramírez grew up amid healthy competition with his identical triplet brothers, César and Marcos. All three trained at the National Ballet of Cuba’s school and danced with that company before attending Philadelphia’s Rock School for Dance Education. Last summer, the brothers (all now dancing professionally in the U.S.) came together for Festival Napa Valley, with Ángel dancing Ben Van Cauwenbergh’s casually virtuosic solo Les Bourgeois. Ángel embraced the tipsy character, tossing off aerial turns with playful nonchalance. He says: “I just looked at the audience—like ‘Hey, guys, what’s up?’—put my hands in my pockets, and started dancing.”
—Cynthia Bond Perry
Yuki Takahashi
Soloist, Pacific Northwest Ballet
“I’m a perfectionist,” says 27-year-old Yuki Takahashi. “I obsess over musicality and timing—I want my dancing to look effortless.” Takahashi made her stage debut at age 3 in Dallas, just a few months after her family had moved from Japan. As a teen, she danced with Mejia Ballet International and Ballet Academy East. Encouraged by her teachers and little brother, KJ (today a soloist at New York City Ballet), she auditioned for Pacific Northwest Ballet, joining the corps in 2019. Says artistic director Peter Boal, “Her clarity of line and clean technique suit any role—classical or contemporary—from the bravura of Square Dance to the romanticism of ‘Emeralds.’ ”
In Balanchine’s Square Dance, she turns as if slicing through the air, quick and decisive, and in grand jeté, her legs are like darts. She plunges into the nonstop movement of Alejandro Cerrudo’s One Thousand Pieces with exact timing and precision. Introspective in Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, in which she debuted last spring while still in the corps, she moves with stunning ease and breathiness, drawing the audience in.
Boal promoted her to soloist in November. “Her talent and experience demand a stronger spotlight,” he says. “It’s Yuki’s time to shine.”
—Gigi Berardi
Sayako Toku
Soloist, Houston Ballet
Whether Sayako Toku is unfurling a sumptuous développé or soaring through the air, she’s a bright spark. Recently, she brought a dazzling array of talents to artistic director Stanton Welch’s Vi et Animo at Houston Ballet: crisp attack in turns, buoyancy in jumps, balances that seemed to stop time, and a languid elegance, fully embodying the movement without excess showiness. Her unforced regality was in full view as Princess Rose in Welch’s Raymonda and Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin, two of many standout roles she has debuted since her promotion to soloist last January. Houston Ballet artistic director Julie Kent has been impressed with Toku’s energy, courage, and fearlessness since she joined the company in 2023. “Sayako wowed us with every opportunity she has been given,” says Kent. “I have loved watching her blossom.”
—Nancy Wozny
Durante Verzola
Ballet choreographer and educator
Durante Verzola’s ballets give crystalline classicism fresh sparkle. His ensembles often celebrate group-date conviviality, and his pas de deux dignify romances of all kinds. He tends to favor canonical music—Paganini, Gounod, Bach. Since Miami City Ballet premiered Sentimiento, his 2023 breakout South Beach–inspired suite to Ernesto Lecuona piano pieces, companies and educational institutions alike have increasingly favored his elegant creations: Luminescent for Collage Dance Collective, Bach Drama for Nashville Ballet’s second company, the critically lauded Symphony for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (which he calls a dream assignment).
After his early ballet training in the Kansas City area, this 30-year-old of Filipino heritage built his Balanchine base at Miami City Ballet School, where he is now resident choreographer, teaches in the pre-professional and student divisions, and leads the summer Choreographic Intensive. His mentors include school artistic director Arantxa Ochoa and former MCB artistic director Lourdes Lopez, who commissioned, among other works, Sentimiento. That ballet returns in March ahead of a large-scale Verzola premiere to Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F to close MCB’s 40th-anniversary season. But first up is a new work for Kansas City Ballet, marking his first use of Dvořák and something of a full-circle moment, in January.
From teaching to his choreographic process, “It’s important to be a good person through it all,” Verzola says. “Kindness is the key to the success I’ve been lucky to receive.”
—Guillermo Perez
Header collage photo credits, top to bottom, left to right: Mia J. Chong, photo by RJ Muna, courtesy Chong; Gheremi Clay, photo by Jimmy Love, courtesy Clay; Durante Verzola leading rehearsal for Jacob’s Pillow’s Contemporary Ballet summer program, photo by Christopher Duggan, courtesy Jacob’s Pillow/Verzola; Anthony and Kel Matsena in KABEL, photo by Kirsten McTernan, courtesy Sadler’s Wells; Shi Jean Kim, photo by Josh New, courtesy Tulsa Ballet; Juliette Ochoa, photo by Christopher Peddecord, courtesy Oregon Ballet Theatre; Kris Lee in Ishmael Houston-Jones’ OO-GA-LA Reimagined, photo by Rachel Keane, courtesy Lee; Sayako Toku as Princess Florine in Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty, photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy Houston Ballet; Rai Barnard and Avery-Jai Andrews of Agora Artists, photo by Corey Haynes, courtesy Agora Artists; Yuki Takahashi in Kiyon Ross’ …throes of increasing wonder, photo by Angela Sterling, courtesy Pacific Northwest Ballet; Sumi Ichikawa as the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, photo by Jennifer Zmuda, courtesy BalletMet; Randi “Rascal” Freitas, photo by Diyanna Monét, courtesy Freitas; Ángel Ramírez in Helgi Tomasson’s Concerto Grosso, photo by Kim Kenney, courtesy Atlanta Ballet; Dasia Amos, photo by Brandon LaVar, courtesy Amos; Takumi Miyake as Clown in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale, photo by Marty Sohl, courtesy American Ballet Theatre; Laura Fúnez, photo by Albiru Muriel, courtesy Fúnez; Emiko Nakagawa, photo by Sayaka Masumoto, courtesy Nakagawa; Bullyache’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, photo by Andrea Avezzù, courtesy Bullyache; Kashia Kancey in her I Believed It Too, photo by Emily Farthing, courtesy Kancey; Jasmine Amy Rogers in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman, courtesy Boneau/Bryan-Brown; Deniz Erkan Sancak, photo by Jaqlin Medlock, courtesy Sancak; Jade Manns’ Superposition, photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy Manns; Dominika Afanasenkov in Alexei Ratmansky’s Paquita, photo by Erin Baiano, courtesy New York City Ballet; David O’Matz, photo by Anita Buzzy Prentiss, courtesy Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre; William Okajima in Kyle Abraham’s If We Were a Love Song, photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy A.I.M by Kyle Abraham
