Born in Henan, China, Yao Zhenyuan graduated as a ballet major from Shanghai Theatre Academy and further studied at San Francisco Ballet School on scholarship. She danced with Suzhou Ballet Theatre (SBT) in 2021 before joining Hong Kong Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member in 2022.

With SBT, she has performed Le Dingxiang in Wang Yabin’s My Name is Ding Xiang and in Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, The Rite of Spring, Carmen, Tang Yin, Chopin’s Poem and The Legend of Beauty, to name a few. She was a finalist at the 2017 and 2019 Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, as well as 2018 Shanghai International Ballet Competition.