Noriko Ohara (ballet)

Noriko Ohara (大原永子, Ōhara Noriko; born December 8, 1943) is a Japanese artistic director and retired ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with the Scottish Ballet from 1976 to 1995. Since 2014, she has been the artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. Ohara was awarded an honorary Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997 and was named to Japan's Order of the Rising Sun in 2014.