Jump to content

Yuanyuan Tan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Balanchine (talk | contribs) at 08:57, 4 October 2017 (Reworded lead-in and added citation.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Chinese name

Yuan Yuan Tan
Born
谭元元

Shanghai, China
Alma materShanghai Ballet School
John Cranko School
Occupation(s)Ballet dancer, choreographer, brand ambassador
Years active1995–present
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
TitlePrima ballerina, Principal, San Francisco Ballet
Guest Principal, Hong Kong Ballet
Yuan Yuan Tan poster in front of San Francisco City Hall.
Yuan Yuan Tan after diving into Lilacs.

Yuan Yuan Tan (Chinese: 谭元元; born 1977, Shanghai, China) is a Chinese ballet dancer. She is the prima ballerina of San Francisco Ballet where she holds the rank of principal dancer. She also holds the title of guest principal dancer at Hong Kong Ballet.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

As one of the most accomplished and critically acclaimed dancers of her generation, Yuan Yuan Tan is widely regarded as "the greatest Chinese ballerina of all time"[7][8] and was called a "national treasure" by ChinaDaily.[3]

Due to her numerous accomplishments, Tan has become a fashion icon and celebrity in her native China. As one of few dancers to find mainstream success, she has been featured in numerous publications and high-profile brand endorsements. In 2014, she was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as a "Hero of Asia."[9][10][11]

Early life

Yuan Yuan Tan was born in Shanghai, China and raised in the city’s traditional Hongkou District. She first learned to dance in pre-school and took an interest in ballet after watching an old broadcast of the legendary ballerina Galina Ulanova performing Swan Lake. She maintained an interest in dance throughout her primary education, where she excelled academically.[3]

At the age of 10, she was scouted by the Shanghai Ballet School and invited to apply to their training program. She was one of 24 candidates chosen from thousands of potentials in her age group from across China. Tan’s father, an engineer, adamantly opposed the idea, instead wishing for her to continue in academia and pursue a medical or law degree. Her mother, who once harbored ambitions of becoming a dancer herself, was supportive of Tan's desire to enroll in the ballet school. The parents’ impasse was resolved by flipping a 5-fen coin. Tan’s mother won the toss and her father capitulated.[3][12][13][14][15][16]

Ballet Career

Training and competitions

Yuan Yuan Tan’s formal dance training began at the Shanghai Ballet School at the age of 11. Because of her parents earlier indecisiveness, she was enrolled one year later than the other students in her class and was at a disadvantage. The rigorous training regime left her depressed and homesick until, at the age of 13, a new teacher arrived that inspired her to excel. At 14, she began competing at international ballet competitions representing the People’s Republic of China.[4][15][14]

Tan’s first major breakthrough came in 1992 at the 5th International Ballet Competition in Paris, France. Galina Ulanova, Tan’s childhood idol, was serving as a judge, and awarded Tan's performance a perfect score. Tan went on the win the gold medal of the junior female division. In 1993, Tan won the gold medal of the junior female classical division at the 1st Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan. She also received that year's Nijinsky Award, named after Russian ballet legend Vaslav Nijinsky, the first time the prize was granted to a female dancer.[4][15][14]

In 1994, Tan attended the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany on a full scholarship, where she continued her training with the Vaganova method. 6 months into her two-year scholarship, Helgi Tomasson, Artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet, the oldest ballet company in the United States, invited Tan to dance as a guest of the company, having spotted her at the Paris competition in 1992.[4][15][14]

San Francisco Ballet

Soloist

Shortly after arriving in San Francisco in 1995, Tan was offered and accepted a full-time soloist contract with the San Francisco Ballet; at the age of 17, she became the youngest in the company’s history and the first Asian soloist. One of her first significant roles was in the classic Swan Lake, which had inspired her love of ballet at the age of 5.[4][17]

Principal dancer

A major breakthrough came when Tan was called as a last minute replacement for an injured principal dancer in George Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Tan had never danced the ballet before, nor was she acquainted with the unique style of Balanchine’s choreography. Tan was given a videotape to watch from the San Francisco Ballet archives, and performed the piece after only 6 hours of learning.[15][18]

The next season, in 1997, Tan was promoted to principal dancer; at the age of 19, she became the youngest principal in the history of the San Francisco Ballet, and the first Chinese dancer to reach that rank in a major company.[4][17]

Today

Today, she is a marquee name for the company, while San Francisco Ballet Company itself is widely considered to be among the best in the world and in the words of choreographer Mark Morris, the "best company in North America".[19]

She has danced lead female roles in Helgi Tomasson's Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, Tomasson/Possokhov's Don Quixote, Morris' Sylvia, and Lubovitch's Othello. She created roles in Tomasson's The Fifth Season, Chi-Lin, Silver Ladders, and 7 for Eight, Possokhov's Magrittomania, Damned, and Study in Motion, Wheeldon's Continuum and Quaternary, and Welch's Tu Tu. Her repertory includes Ashton's Thaïs Pas de Deux, Balanchine's Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Concerto Barocco, Prodigal Son, and Apollo, Duato's Without Words, Robbins' In the Night, Dances at a Gathering, and Dybbuk, and Makarova's Paquita.[20]

She has been featured in Vogue, Esquire, ELLE, Numéro, and Tatler. Currently she is also a brand ambassador for Rosewood Hotels, Van Cleef & Arpels and Rolex.[11][21]

References

  1. ^ "San Francisco Ballet - Dancer". www.sfballet.org. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  2. ^ "TAN Yuan Yuan | HK Ballet". www.hkballet.com. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  3. ^ a b c d 李齐. "Raising the barre[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  4. ^ a b c d e f 李齐. "Raising the barre[2]- Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  5. ^ 李齐. "Raising the barre[3]- Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  6. ^ "The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet | About the Program | Great Performances | PBS". Great Performances. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  7. ^ "The Hong Kong Ballet - Tan Yuan Yuan". hkballet.com. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  8. ^ "TEDxShanghai | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  9. ^ "TIME Magazine -- Asia Edition -- October 11, 2004 / Vol. 164, No. 15". Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  10. ^ Sulcas, Roslyn; Cooper, Michael (2013-11-20). "Ballet Dancers as Brands". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  11. ^ a b "A Pirouette Through China's Capital With Tan Yuan Yuan". Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  12. ^ "Destiny's child". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  13. ^ "Haunting Beauty". dancemagazine. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  14. ^ a b c d TEDx Talks (2016-12-06), Balance - My Life as a Ballerina | Yuan Yuan Tan 谭元元 | TEDxShanghai, retrieved 2017-10-04
  15. ^ a b c d e Coolcat (2013-04-07), Interview with Tan Yuanyuan, retrieved 2017-10-04
  16. ^ "The Perfect Poise of Tan Yuan Yuan" CNN, June 25, 2008.
  17. ^ a b "Sunday Profile: Yuan Yuan Tan". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  18. ^ "Yuan Yuan Tan's 20 stellar years at S.F. Ballet". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  19. ^ "San Francisco Chronicle Jan 08, 2005" SF Chronicle
  20. ^ "Yuanyuan Tan" HK Ballet Guest Principal Dancer
  21. ^ Sulcas, Roslyn; Cooper, Michael (2013-11-20). "Ballet Dancers as Brands". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Yuanyuan_Tan&oldid=803736120"