BALLET

A two-time gold medalist, Sayaka Wakita was a principal ballet dancer and soloist  with several international companies.

From a young age, Sayaka dreamed of becoming a ballerina. At just 13, she left her home country of Japan to pursue professional ballet training abroad—first in Canada, then in Belgium. During her teenage years, she competed in prestigious international ballet competitions, winning gold medals at the Berlin International Ballet Competition (2011) and the Tokyo Youth Ballet Competition (2012). That same year, she was honored as "Emerging Dancer of the Year" by the Toyota Cultural Foundation.

After graduating from the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, she built an international career as a principal dancer, performing with the Armenian National Ballet, Turkish National Ballet, and Yakutsk Ballet in Russia. She later joined Astana Ballet as a first soloist and Ballet Dortmund in Germany as a soloist ballerina.

During her career, Sayaka has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Bolshoi Theater and Alexandrinsky Theater in Russia, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Switzerland.

Her repertoire includes works by leading 21st-century choreographers such as William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, and Jacopo Godani. She performed principal roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker (Benjamin Millepied), Alice in Mauro Bigonzetti’s Alice, and the Firebird in The Firebird, as well as featured roles in Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude by William Forsythe and Eden Eden by Wayne McGregor.

She retired from the stage in 2022, concluding a distinguished 20-year ballet career, with her final performance in Romeo and Juliet.

HARVARD

While pursuing her ballet career, Sayaka studied at Harvard University. She graduated cum laude (with honors) in 2023 with a degree in economics and was awarded the Dean's List of Academic Achievement twice consecutively for her high achievements.

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Alongside her studies and performances, she developed a strong interest in business and entrepreneurship from a young age. At 18, she launched Sayakalassic, Japan’s first online ballet coaching platform. Two years later, she founded Worldwide Educational Corporation, an educational company based in Nagoya that offers children classes in subjects such as dance, personal finance and computer science. She also became a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community (Tokyo Hub), contributing to projects aimed at expanding economic opportunities beyond Tokyo through innovation and sustainability.

Sayaka’s early exposure to the corporate world included work as a management consultant in Tokyo and consulting experience with The Coca-Cola Company’s Atlanta headquarters through Harvard Business School. She later gained further experience at Ernst & Young (EY) in London through their Global Athlete Program, supporting athletes in transitioning to business careers.

PHILANTHROPY & IMPACT WORK

Today, Sayaka is involved in a number of ventures at the intersection of arts, business, and philanthropy. She is the Co-Founder and Board Member of the Opera House Foundation, an endowment fund being established with Sparkasse Dortmund’s Private Bank to support the performing arts through legacy building and philanthropy. She also works in sponsorship and fundraising at Theater Dortmund, where she has raised €3.25 million to date for opera, ballet, and orchestral events. In addition, she serves as a Senior Capital Growth and Investments Manager at Unrest, a London-based venture capital firm focused on impact-driven startups aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, currently working on raising their inaugural £20 million fund.

In her free time, she appears as a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Teikyo University, Borussia Dortmund, Nagoya University of Arts, and other institutions.