Aki Kato is a native of Japan, born in Tokyo in 1966. Both of her parents were professional dancers. She began studying ballet at the age of four under the instruction of her father.
During the final years of her ballet training, she received several awards at various dance competitions in Japan.
At the age of 18, she received her first professional engagement with the Matsuyama Ballet Company in Tokyo, where she performed a broad repertoire including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, La Bayadère, Coppélia, Cinderella
In 1988, Aki Kato moved to Switzerland, where she was engaged at the Stadttheater Bern. Over the next two years, she captivated audiences in productions such as Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, The Creatures of Prometheus, Through the Looking Glass, Songs of the Albatross, and Iphigenia in Tauris.
In 1990, she was engaged as a soloist at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, where she performed in choreographies by Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Oscar Araiz, Robert North, and Christopher Bruce.
In 1991, Aki Kato was invited by Philippe Talard to join the National Theatre Mannheim as a solo dancer. She performed in a wide variety of productions, often in leading roles, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Salome, Uncle, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Miroirs, Mad in Quadrad, The Tightrope Walker, The Swan Song, The Nutcracker, The Shamans, Hardware, The Creatures of Prometheus, Go 4 Dance, and many more.
She also presented several of her own choreographic works on stage, including The Ten Commandments, Inner Sense of Innocence, Under the Whispering Skies, and The Story of the Evil Man.
Since 2001, Aki Kato has worked as a guest dancer, choreographer, and teacher at various institutions, including TG Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Theater and Orchestra Heidelberg, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Capitol Mannheim, Rosengarten Mannheim, Rokoko Theater Schwetzingen, Theater Regensburg, Bürgerbühne at the Theater Felina-Areal Mannheim, National Theatre Mannheim, UnterwegsTheater Heidelberg, and many others.
In 2001, she founded her own dance studio for classical ballet and modern dance, where she continues to train dancers to this day.
From 2018 to 2023, she taught as a lecturer, and since the winter semester of 2023, she has been a Professor of Modern Dance at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Mannheim.