Born in Asahikawa, Japan, to parents who owned a kimono shop, Yumiko Takeshima began dancing at the age of four in Sapporo. At 14, she left to study at the San Francisco Ballet School. Yumiko Takeshima danced as a soloist with Universal Ballet (Seoul), Alberta Ballet (Calgary), and Feld Ballet NY.In 1993, she left New York to join Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, where she danced as a soloist. It was during this time that she began developing her passion for designing dancewear and costumes. In early 2002, she launched the YUMIKO dancewear brand and the YumiGirl network.Since 2002, Yumiko Takeshima has continued to develop her made-to-measure line as well as a ready-to-wear collection of dance and fitness apparel. Furthermore, since settling in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, she has designed costumes for numerous choreographers, including David Dawson (Requiem, The Four Seasons, Anima Animus, Citizen Nowhere, Swan Lake, Tristan + Isolde, The Human Seasons, Opus.11...) and William Forsythe (The Second Detail and Bach, Handel, Berio Pas de Deux). Yumiko Takeshima ended her dance career as a principal dancer with the Semperoper Ballett in Germany in 2014.She has performed works by Cranko, Neumeier, Lander, Cullberg, Ashton, Tharp, Dantzig, Balanchine, van Manen, Lacotte, Kylián, and Forsythe. She is currently dedicating herself to her YUMIKO company and her costume design projects.

Yumiko TakeshimaCostume designer