Yumiko Takeshima was born in Asahikawa, Japan. She has performed as a Principal dancer with Universal Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Feld Ballet NY, Het National Ballet, and is currently Principal dancer Dresden Semper Oper Ballet.

In 2002, she founded dancewear company YUMIKO and continues to design for them. She has designed costumes for Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin, The Grey, 00:00, Morning Ground and Gentle Chapter (all Het National Ballet), Reverence (Marinsky Ballet), The Disappeared, Giselle and The World According to Us (Semper Oper Ballet), Sweet Spell of Oblivion and The Third Light (Royal Ballet of Flanders), A Million Kisses to my Skin and Faun(e) (English National Ballet), Dancing Madly Backwards (Norwegian National Ballet) and On the Nature of Daylight (gala piece). She has also designed for Jorma Elo’s Golden Partita (Basel Ballet) and Suit Murder (Finnish National Ballet), William Forsythe’s The Second Detail (Semper Oper Ballet), Krzysztof Pastor’s And the Rain Will Pass (Polish National Ballet) and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Solitaire (Het National Ballet).