Birmingham Royal Ballet is hoping to raise its international profile on a tour of Japan. Diane Parkes reports from Tokyo.

While to some people dance may be simply tutu and tights, Birmingham Royal Ballet is aiming to prove it is about so much more.

With the arts under threat due to budget cuts the Hippodrome-based company is forging ahead with an ambitious three-week tour of Japan with a target of not only raising its own international reputation but that of the city as a whole.

And the visit, which began last week and takes in 10 performances in cities including Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, will also aim to bring in much-needed income.

As it tours a country still feeling the aftershocks of a tsunami and earthquake which registered nine on the Richter scale and damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, BRB is also flying the flag for Birmingham.

Director David Bintley, who is also artistic director of Japan’s New National Theatre Ballet Company, was in rehearsals in Tokyo when the quake hit on March 11. And he stayed in the city for the following week before coming back to the UK.

He said: “There were a lot of question marks over the tour after the disaster and the ongoing situation at Fukushima but we were determined right from the outset to continue the tour as long as it was safe to do so. A lot of companies have cancelled their visits here and they are letting Japan down.

It quickly became clear we were not dealing with a Chernobyl situation and there were no plans to evacuate Tokyo. We were monitoring the situation very closely and quickly saw how the country was settling back down.

“From day one people in Japan were very keen to stress that they needed companies like ours to visit. It is good for Japan that we are seen to be supporting them.”

And BRB is certainly doing that. Despite an already hectic schedule, it added an extra date into the programme for a fund raising gala featuring a Frederick Ashton double bill of The Dream and Daphnis and Chloe - with all profits going to the earthquake and tsunami relief.

“This evening says that BRB has come for more than just a three week tour of Japan,” said Bintley, who has led the company since 1995. “It says we have a belief in Japan, in the country and in its ability to come back from the tragedy. We are saying this is not just a regular show, it is about friendship.”

The tour, which began on Saturday with a performance of former BRB director Peter Wright’s The Sleeping Beauty, set to Tchaikovsky, is the third visit the company has made to Japan, the most recent being 2007.

Through Bintley’s leadership of New National Theatre Ballet Company, links have been building across the two countries. A policy being fostered by Bintley as a possible solution to cuts in arts funding.

“This tour helps to extend that link and increase traffic between the two companies,” he said. “BRB dancers and teachers are now coming here regularly and we will soon start turning this the other way around with Japanese dancers coming to Birmingham.

“Two productions I have created here will also be part of the Birmingham repertoire.

“I think this kind of international co-operation is something which will be increasingly important, particularly bearing in mind the pressures on arts funding.

“Being here and in other countries which we have toured is flying the flag for Birmingham. It is very important for us and shows how the company is an increasingly valuable asset for the city.”

The current tour follows recent visits by the company to the United States of America, China and Hong Kong.

BRB chief executive Christopher Barron said the Japan dates also help cement the company’s future.

“There are three key reasons why we tour,” he said. “If you see yourself as an international company then travel is imperative. If you tour internationally you are more likely to attract the best dancers. And thirdly you have an ambassadorial role because you take the city’s name with you.

“International tours are an important part of our company profile. But also these kind of big international tours are a way of funding the company’s activity back home. We have to be commercially minded and tours like this pay for themselves and actually create a surplus we can put back into the company.

“Japan is a country which has always been able to fund tours such as this one. To bring 110-120 people over here on a three-week schedule, we need to know that we can make it work financially. And, despite everything, Japan has a strong economy.”

The visit has been supported by the British Embassy in Japan. Its ambassador David Warren said: “I have no doubt that BRB’s performances will delight Japanese audiences and further deepen the UK’s close relationship with Japan in this field.”