Misa Kuranaga began her training at the Jinushi Kaoru Ballet School and later continued at the School of American Ballet. In 2001, Kuranaga joined San Francisco Ballet as an apprentice after winning the professional scholarship award at the Prix de Lausanne. In 2003, Kuranaga was offered a corps de ballet position at Boston Ballet. She quickly rose through the ranks after performing the Sylph in August Bournonville's La Sylphide as a corps member. She was promoted to second soloist in 2005, soloist in 2007, and to principal dancer in 2009.
Kuranaga is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including a gold medal in the junior division of the Ninth Moscow International Ballet Competition and the gold medal in the senior division of the 2006 USA International Ballet Competition. She was nominated for a Benois de la Danseaward for her portrayal of Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin and Medora in Ivan Liška’s Le Corsaire in 2017.
In 1993, Kuranaga performed in the Moscow Ballet Competition Gala at Bolshoi Theater as a guest of Yuri Grigorovich. In 2009, she performed Serenade with New York City Ballet in Lincoln Center, and in 2012, Kuranaga danced the roles of Odette and Odile at the Komaki Ballet in Tokyo, Japan. She is an annual guest artist at the Vail International Dance Festival, which Damien Woeztel directs. Kuranaga has traveled all over the world performing in galas including the Youth American Grand Prix Gala in New York City, the Dance Open Gala in Helsinki, the Seventh International Ballet Star Gala in Taipei, the Prix de Lausanne Gala in Tokyo, the International Ballet Gala in Dortmund, Alina Cojocaru & Friends in Sarasota, Florida, Roberto Bolle and Friends tour at the Arena di Verona and four additional cities in Italy, and Despertares Gala in Mexico.
Repertoire:
Kitri (Don Quixote) — Choreography by Rudolf Nureyev;
Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) — Choreography by John Cranko;
Tatiana (Onegin) — Choreography by John Cranko;
Giselle (Giselle) — staged by Maina Gielgud;
Nikiya (La Bayadere) — Choreography by Florence Clerc;
Prelude (Les Sylphides) — Choreography by Florence Clerc;
Lise (La Fille mal Gardée), Cinderella (Cinderella) — Choreography by Frederic Ashton;
Sylph (La Sylphide) — Choreography by Bournonville;
Princes Aurora, Princess Florine (The Sleeping Beauty) — Choreography by Marius Petipa;
Odette/Odile (Swan Lake) — Choreography by Marius Petipa;
Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen and Clara (The Nutcracker) — Choreography by Mikko Nissinen's;
the Ballerina (Etudes) — Choreography by Harald Lander;
Medora (Le Corsaire) — Choreography by Ivan Liška;
lead role in George Balanchine's Coppélia (Swanhilda), leading roles of Theme and Variations, Diamonds, Rubies, Symphony in C, Serenade, Ballo della Regina, Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Tarantella, A Midsummer Night Dream, Divertimento No.15, Who Cares?, Concerto Barocco, Symphony in Three Movements, Apollo, Stravinsky Violin Concerto;
Angel (Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler) — Choreography by John Neumeier;
Cacti — Choreography by Alexander Ekman;
Petite Mort — Choreography by Jiří Kylián;
Wings of Wax, Symphony of Psalms, Sechs Tanze; William Forsythe's The Second Detail, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Artifact 2017;
Polyphonia — Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon;
Slice to Sharp, Lost by Last, Bach Cello Suite, Creatures of Egmont, and Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius — Choreography by Jorma Elo's
Chroma Wayne — Choreography by McGregor
Barber Violin Concerto — Choreography by Peter Martin
