George Balanchine is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. St Petersburg-born Balanchine had both the music and dance of Russia in his blood. Extensive musical training put him on equal grounds in communicating with great composers and enabled him to reduce orchestral scores on the piano, which is an invaluable aid in translating music into dance. Balanchine’s style has been described as neo-classical, de-emphasising plot in ballets and preferring to let “dance be the star of the show”. In his lifetime, he created 465 works, including Serenade as one of the renowned pieces.

photo: George Platt Lynes
BALANCHINE is a Trademark of The George Balanchine Trust

Born in Shanghai, China, Tan Yuan Yuan trained at Shanghai Dancing School and Suttgart’s John Cranko School. She joined San Francisco Ballet as a Soloist in 1995 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1997. Tan has danced major roles in Tomasson’s Giselle; Nutcracker; Romeo & Juliet; The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake; as well as lead roles in Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote; Cranko’s Onegin; and Lubovitch’s Othello. Tan has created many roles in numerous productions including, but not limited to, Tomasson’s 7 for Eight, Caprice, Chi-Lin, The Fifth Season, and Silver Ladders; Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Concerto Barocco, Diamonds, and more. A frequent guest artist, Tan has performed globally and has received many notable awards.

photo: Chris Hardy

Born into a family of Chinese opera performers and trained in Chinese traditional dance at an early age, Fei Bo started choreographing when he was 16 and then studied modern dance at Beijing Dance Academy. After graduation, he joined The National Ballet of China (NBC) in 2002 and has since created many pieces for the company, including the famous Chinese ballet The Peony Pavilion and the full-length Hamlet. Fei strives to integrate eastern perspectives with western art forms and has collaborated with renowned artists like Philippe Decouflé, Akram Khan, Tamara Rojo, Li Liuyi and many more. Awarded China’s National Class One Choreographer and Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2011, Fei has also won choreography awards at Helsinki International Ballet Competitions in 2005 and 2012, Shanghai International Ballet Competitions in 2007, and Youth American Grand Prix in 2012. In 2014, he was nominated at Prix Benois de la Danse. He is currently NBC’s Resident Choreographer and Visiting Professor of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art.

Born in Liaoning, China, Zhan Xinlu trained at Beijing Dance Academy, joined The National Ballet of China in 2009, and became Soloist in 2012. She has danced Kitri in Nureyev's Don Quixote, Xiao Yuanyuan in Chinese New Year, Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle, as well as roles in Cranko's Onegin, Petit's Carmen and many others. Her accolades include gold medals in the 1^st Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in 2011 and 2^nd Beijing International Ballet Invitational for Dance Schools in 2008, and 2^nd and 1^st prizes in CCTV National Dance Competition in 2009 and 2013, respectively. She performed Don Quixote Pas de Deux at Singapore Arts Festival 2010 and Gala of Kazakh Arts Festival 2012.

Born in Beijing, China, Wang Jiyu graduated from Beijing Dance Academy, joined The National Ballet of China in 2013, and was named Coryphée in 2015. His repertoire includes Gurn in La Sylphide, Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle, as well as roles in Makarova's Swan Lake, Li Yang's The Girl in Black Eyes and Wang Sizheng's El Testamento de Amelia. He won 3^rd Prize in the 10th Taoli Cup Dance Competition in 2012 and the Encouragement Award in the 2^nd Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in 2013. In 2012, he collaborated with the Rudra Béjart School, performing a Béjart piece in Beijng.

Born into a family of Chinese opera performers and trained in Chinese traditional dance at an early age, Fei Bo started choreographing when he was 16 and then studied modern dance at Beijing Dance Academy. After graduation, he joined The National Ballet of China (NBC) in 2002 and has since created many pieces for the company, including the famous Chinese ballet The Peony Pavilion and the full-length Hamlet. Fei strives to integrate eastern perspectives with western art forms and has collaborated with renowned artists like Philippe Decouflé, Akram Khan, Tamara Rojo, Li Liuyi and many more. Awarded China’s National Class One Choreographer and Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2011, Fei has also won choreography awards at Helsinki International Ballet Competitions in 2005 and 2012, Shanghai International Ballet Competitions in 2007, and Youth American Grand Prix in 2012. In 2014, he was nominated at Prix Benois de la Danse. He is currently NBC’s Resident Choreographer and Visiting Professor of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Liang studied at the School of American Ballet before joining New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. He was promoted to Soloist in 1998 and joined the Tony Award winning Broadway cast of Fosse in 2001. In 2002, Liang was invited by Jiří Kylián to become a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT1). During his time with NDT 1, Liang discovered his passion for choreography. He has since created works for ballet companies worldwide including Bolshoi Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Shanghai Ballet and Singapore Dance Theatre. He has won numerous awards for his choreography including the 2006 National Choreographic Competition of Hubbard Street 2. He was named Artistic Director of BalletMet in 2013.

photo: Chiun-Kai Shih