CJ Critt

PRE-POINTE TEACHER

Asako was born in Tokyo, Japan, but moved often in her early years living in Germany, France, Japan and Brazil. At age 8, she took her first ballet lessons in Paris with a former member of the Paris Opera. Upon return to Japan, she studied at the Matsuyama Ballet in Tokyo, and was selected to join the junior company which gave her the opportunity to perform along professional dancers in classical ballets such as Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Coppelia and others. When the family moved to Sao Paulo, Brasil, Asako attended to two ballet schools, both of which used Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) curriculum. Within three years she completed Advanced exams. After a year of undergraduate studies at Sophia University in Tokyo, she took a year sabbatical to study at the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco, and was trained by Marika Besobrasova.

In 1989, Asako received her first contract the with Stadttheater Giessen in Germany, under William Anthony, where she was given many soloist roles. The following year, she danced with Ballett Oper Leipzig, under choreographer Uwe Scholtz. She danced many of his works including Die Schopfung (The Creation), Coppelia, Nutcracker, Beethoven 7th Symphony, and many other productions with guest choreographers.

She completed her Bachelors degree in Political Science and International Relation through Sophia University, Tokyo. She worked as a designer consultant for European Brands imported to Japan for a short time.

Although she had never considered teaching ballet when she was a dancer, several opportunities came up to teach in local ballet schools in NYC, while she lived there with her husband and kids. Moving to Dallas in 2010 created opportunities to teach, and she found her passion in it. She is now a certified American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum (ABTNTC) teacher. She taught at Dallas Ballet Center for 5 years, where she also coached for YAGP competitions and placed several students.

She is married to David Fandrich, and they have 3 sons Theo, Nicolas, and Alan. All 3 of them are athletes and violinists. She is involved in GDYO (Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra) and other music events.

Asako taught at Dallas Ballet Center for 5 years and has been faculty Hathaway Academy of Ballet since 2016 where she teaches age 9 to 18. She believes in the need of a strong technical foundation at a young age to develop into a good dancer.

Whether sports or music or ballet, developing technique has one thing in common “Practice does not make perfect, it only makes permanent. So practice correctly!”

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