Yuan Yuan Tan Returns to China With SF Ballet
September 4, 2009
Yuan Yuan Tan (© Chris Hardy)
San Francisco Ballet Company’s Yuan Yuan Tan, the company’s first Asian American principal soloist will tour with the company, when they make their debut in China this October.
San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, has been invited on a three-city tour to Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou, China this fall as part of the official celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the USA and the People’s Republic of China.
“I am excited for myself and the Company as this tour will mark the first visit by the SF Ballet to China. All ninety-seven of us who will travel there are really looking forward to performing there,” exclaimed Tan, who has been the company’s major principal since 1995. “I feel confident China will be very receptive to our performances and I look forward to showing them what a wonderful and talented dance company we are,” she says.
Yuan Yuan joined the SF Ballet in 1995. In 1992 SFB Director Helgi Tomasson saw the 15-year-old Tan perform and win the Gold Medal of the junior female division at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Paris. He invited her to San Francisco to perform in the company’s Nutcracker Suite, and soon thereafter offered her a position with the San Francisco Ballet as a soloist. She became a Principal Dancer of the company a mere two years later.
Tan, has appeared in the company’s Giselle and Romeo and Juliet, and will be in the upcoming production of Little Mermaid next March. In 2004, she was named one of twenty people under the age of forty who were considered heroes from Asia, in a cover story by the Asian edition of Time Magazine. She recently performed at the Galaxy International Ballet Gala in Hong Kong this past May, and performed Swan Lake with The Hong Kong Ballet at the Shanghai Grand Theater in January 2009.
Yuan Yuan Tan in Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet (© Erik Tomasson)
Her career has been followed by many Chinese Americans as she was the first Asian American to solo and eventually become a principal dancer for this San Francisco company. Yet, her career started very late by usual ballerina standards.
“My family really had no connection with dance when I was young. My father, Tan Kequin, was an engineer and my mother, Zhang Su, an accountant, but my mother had always had a love for music. When I was 11, my mother set up an audition for me at the Shanghai Ballet School, and somehow I was accepted although I had no experience with dance. I must admit I didn’t like very much the strict ritual of learning to dance and thought it boring and tedious in the beginning,” says Tan.
She recalled how painful it was on her body to begin the tribulations of dance training and felt very insecure as she was more inexperienced and behind the other girls when she started at Level 2. “I would sit in the corner watching the others who were so much ahead of me in skills,” she said. Luckily for her, however, one teacher saw her potential and took her on as her private student, working with Yuan Yuan so intensely that eventually not only did Yuan Yuan catch up with the others, she soon surpassed them in ability.
“When I was sent to Paris to compete with other 15-19 year olds, I was one of the youngest there. I remember being very scared and stressed. I worked very hard to be chosen to represent China, but it was a great responsibility for a young person like me to go to a foreign country to dance for my country,” she said. “Looking back, I can see that this competition taught me how to trust myself, to sit back and observe the other dancers to study their particular skills. I think it was then that I realized that dancing wasn’t just a job to be completed. I came to the realization how much I loved dancing, being a dancer and performing before appreciative audiences.”
Yuan Yuan has returned many times to China since joining the San Francisco Ballet in 1995. She has appeared in charity shows in Shanghai and performed at the award ceremony for the Third Annual Shanghai International Ballet Competition in 2004.
The SF Ballet will present two programs on tour, including SF Ballet Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s full-length production of Swan Lake, and a mixed-repertory program featuring a diverse range of acclaimed works by George Balanchine, Tomasson and Christopher Wheeldon. The three week engagement will include four performances at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, one at the Suzhou Grand Theatre and concluding with three performances at the Beijing Poly Theatre October 1-3.
A twinkle comes into Yuan Yuan’s eyes when she says that although she knows it will be a grueling schedule in China, she plans to stay a few days following the performances to just relax and catch up on sleep and enjoy some well deserved massages at a resort there.
Of her future in dance, Yuan Yuan turns philosophical and says, “Who knows where our lives will turn. Life is never predictable and one never knows how one’s decision today can affect the rest of their lives. I hope I can still dance for many more years, but I believe one needs to go with the flow with whatever happens or comes along. I always like to keep open all of the options before me. As dancers go, we are trained to be specific and very definite, but sometimes I feel you just have to let things come as they come and accept it.”
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