Yoshiaki Nakano is from Osaka, Japan. He joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2010, was promoted to Soloist in 2013, and was promoted to a Principal in 2014. He received his early training at the Elite Ballet Studio in Osaka, Japan, and went on to train at San Francisco Ballet School and in PBT School’s Pre-Professional Program. Yoshiaki won the gold medal at the 2013 Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in China, and the silver medal at the 2010 World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida. In 2014, Dance Magazine named Nakano among its top 25 Dancers to Watch. 

Yoshiaki has performed the most of future roles in his career at PBT. PBT commissioned Nakano to choreograph three new works – A Fellow Feeling,Infusion and Catharsis – for its 2015-2016,2017-2018 and 2022-2023 mainstage seasons. He has also created works for PBT School, Point Park University and Tetsuya Kumakawa’s Gala in Tokyo.

Each summer Nakano returns to Osaka, Japan, to choreograph and perform in the World Dream Gala in partnership with his mother’s Elite Ballet Studio, where he grew up dancing. He also teaches, performs and choreographs in several companies and studios all around Japan.