From head to toe, a prima ballerina of Shanghai culture

Ti Gong

Shanghai-born Tan Yuanyuan, a prima ballerina with the San Francisco Ballet, said the honor of receiving a 2019 Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award goes beyond her own achievements and recognizes the contributions overseas Chinese have made to the city.

The annual awards are bestowed on people who contribute to the development of Shanghai. There were 58 winners this year.

“I’m very honored and excited about receiving the Magnolia Award,” Tan told Shanghai Daily. “It’s a pride to be shared by all overseas Chinese. I want to thank my family, teachers and friends, as well as all the fans who supported my growth.”

Tan started formal ballet instruction at a relatively late age of 11 but proved herself to be a talented student. She attended the Shanghai Ballet School and began competing in international ballet competitions when she was 14.

In 1994, the then 17-year-old Tan was studying ballet in Stuttgart when she was invited as guest dancer by the San Francisco Ballet. She was soon offered a full-time contract and became the company’s youngest and first Asian soloist.

Despite her subsequent American citizenship, Tan has never neglected the ties with the city of her birth. Apart from regular visits back to Shanghai, she set up an international ballet art studio at the Shanghai Theater Academy over three years ago, using her influence and social contacts to build the studio into a hub for young dancers.

“I received my first ballet education in Shanghai,” said Tan. “With a thankful heart, I want to make a contribution to the city where I was born.”

Tan’s studio has organized choreography master courses, international forums and joint performances since its establishment in December 2015.

“Apart from ballet education, the studio focuses on introducing advanced theories and world-class productions to China,” she said. “We help cultivate domestic ballet dancers and choreographers and explore ballet’s roots in China. It’s our goal to become an innovative supplement to China’s existing ballet education system.”

In 2017 and 2018, the studio organized choreography master courses for more than 30 domestic students. Tan invited renowned world-class choreographers and dancers from the San Francisco Ballet as inspired instructors to work along with the Master Choreography course. It ended with the students choreographing a piece of modern dance.

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Tan visited four Shanghai primary and middle schools in 2018 to share her personal experiences and discuss the world of ballet. Students watched classic ballet videos and even took part in ballet training with Tan and other dancers.

In cooperation with Shanghai Music Publishing House, the studio contributed content for the book “Art on Toes,” which was published in May 2017. The book included interviews and stories about star dancers and artistic directors of nine famed ballet companies around the world.

During the 2016 China Shanghai International Arts Festival, the studio organized a performance entitled “Tan Yuanyuan and Her Friends.” Ten top-tier dancers from eight ballet companies in five countries gathered in Shanghai for the joint performance, which became a highlight of the festival.

The show was performed again in Shanghai last year, with local student dance groups giving warm-up performances on stage.

In June, Tan and her dancing partner Aaron Robison gave a “guided tour” of San Francisco Ballet’s “The Little Mermaid” at the Shanghai Grand Theater. Tan shared with the audience stories behind the staging of the ballet and her interpretation of the role.

At the age of 42, Tan might be considered past the prime of a ballet dancer, but she still remains active, with some 80 performances every year.

“I just want to keep doing what I love,” said Tan. “A positive mindset and a healthy dancing environment have been the key to my career. I truly look forward to the next Chinese star dancer to walk into the ballet spotlight.”

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A 500-year-old art form, ballet originated in Italy, grew in France and became well developed in Russia. China began introducing ballet in the 20th century and started to combine ballet with the nation’s own stories after the 1960s.

“Western ballet works still lead on the international stage,” said Tan. “Except for the a few works, like ‘The Red Detachment of Women’ and ‘White-Haired Girl,’” Chinese ballet productions are not widely recognized yet.”

She added, “To create influential works that showcase China’s culture has become an important task for Chinese ballet practitioners.”

Tan’s big ambition is to create an original ballet performance using Chinese elements. To do that, she said she may borrow a script from a Chinese novel or movie, and then find a choreographer and director who are familiar with Chinese culture.

“To create a ballet dance is a big, systematic job,” she said. “It involves plot, music, choreography, costumes and set and lighting design. That requires a big financial investment. We are actively organizing a creation team and will start working on it when everything is in place.”

China’s ballet world has grown rapidly in recent years, and Chinese dancers are gaining more attention in international competitions.”

“Chinese ballet dancers are very skillful,” Tan said. “Apart from mastering fundamental skills, dancers need to be sincere and expressive on stage. Technique is important, but a two-hour, large-scale production can’t be sustained only by performing 10-second fancy spins and jumps.”