Mayu Tanigaito was born in Tochigi, Japan, and made her first
trip to New Zealand in 2011 to audition for Royal New Zealand
Ballet. NYC will be Mayu's first season with the company.
Mayu started her dance training at the age of 6 at the Takahashi
Wakako Ballet Studio, and continued her studies at Antwerp Royal
Ballet School in Belgium, and The Rock School for Dance Education
in the US. In 2007 she was a finalist in the Youth American Grand
Prix, the world's largest student ballet scholarship
competition.
Her professional career began in 2008 at North Carolina Dance
Theatre II where she danced roles in Snow White, Othello and The
Nutcracker.