February 14th this year is Valentine’s Day and also the 48th birthday of ballet dancer Tan Yuanyuan. On that day, she completed her farewell performance with the San Francisco Ballet, bringing an end to her 29-year artistic career with the company.
On the night of Tan Yuanyuan's closing performance at the San Francisco Ballet
, the 2,365-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House was packed with seats, and more than 200 spectators bought standing tickets to watch her performance. She danced "Marguerite and Armand," a touching love tragedy.
Before the performance, Tan Yuanyuan told himself not to cry, but when the curtain came down, tears fell involuntarily. Bowing again and again, the audience cheered and applauded for 10 minutes. Someone kept throwing roses on the stage, red, white, and pink. She walked to the center of the stage, knelt down on one knee, and kissed the stage she loved.
On the night of the farewell performance, the San Francisco City Hall lit up purple lights for Tan Yuanyuan. The San Francisco Ballet said: "This is the end of an era."
Tan Yuanyuan's closing performance at the San Francisco Ballet
"The curtain will eventually fall." Tan Yuanyuan said. After bidding farewell to San Francisco, she shifted the focus of her work and life to China, where she serves as the director of the Dance Collaborative Innovation Center of the Shanghai Theater Academy and the artistic director of the Suzhou Ballet.
On July 31, she led the dancers of the Suzhou Ballet to appear at the Shanghai Grand Theater to perform Balanchine's "Serenade" and Len Tetley's "The Rite of Spring". The former was romantic and the latter was wild. Being behind the scenes, she was busy all the time and couldn't stop, and she was even more nervous than an actor.
From dancer to artistic director, 48-year-old Tan Yuanyuan is experiencing a career transformation. She had many concerns about transformation because it was not an easy task. But once you set foot on this road, you have to keep going. She said: "Don't be afraid of change. Change is a good thing. You have to welcome it and adapt to it. The biggest obstacle on this road will always be yourself."
One curtain falls and another curtain rises.
Tan Yuanyuan guides the actors of the Suzhou Ballet to rehearse
Farewell to the new students
Facing a new identity, Tan Yuanyuan's biggest feeling is one word: tired. As a dancer, she only needs to focus on herself, but as the artistic director of a dance company, she has to care about more people and solve more problems. "I feel like a big parent. I have never had so many things to worry about."
When meeting the young actors of the Suzhou Ballet for the first time, Tan Yuanyuan noticed that many of their bodies were shaking involuntarily. "Maybe I'm afraid that my requirements are too high, maybe I'm afraid that I'm not good enough. I tell them, relax a little, it's okay if you don't do well, not every time is perfect, you have to accept this fact."
In order to let the dancers To dance more classic works by world-class masters, Tan Yuanyuan wrote an email to Balanchine's board of directors, hoping to obtain authorization for "Serenade" by George Balanchine, the "Father of American Ballet".
Suzhou Ballet's "Serenade"
This work was created in 1934 and this year celebrates its 90th anniversary. As a plotless symphonic ballet, "Serenade" is named after Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings in C major", which is Balanchine's favorite among his many original works. Tan Yuanyuan has skipped this work no less than a hundred times in her career. "Serenade" taught her how to use her body to deal with music.
In an email to Balanchine’s board of directors, Tan Yuanyuan introduced himself and detailed the more than twenty Balanchine works he had skipped. The board of directors wrote back, of course we know who you are, but we still have to follow the authorization rules step by step. After the dance company materials and dancer videos were reviewed by the other party, they sent an instructor who specialized in teaching Balanchine's works and also sent a thick costume guide.
"Open this guide, and inside it is a display of the colors, details, and fabrics of each set of costumes. All must be based on the original version. This guide also stipulates that it must be sent back after one week." Tan Yuanyuan said, "Ballet is the pursuit of perfection. Art must not be bad at all."
Suzhou Ballet's "Serenade"
is not easy to obtain authorization, but Tan Yuanyuan hopes to allow the young people of Suzhou Ballet to grow up in the diverse world of ballet classics, because she herself is like this, relying on one good work after another. One good role after another grew up.
In 1995, 18-year-old Tan Yuanyuan joined the San Francisco Ballet and became the youngest soloist in the company. It was through Balanchine that she first gained recognition in this foreign company. Works.
At that time, this Chinese girl didn’t speak the language well and was a solo dancer from the beginning, dancing two levels in a row, so she was ostracized. On weekends, she would take a two-hour drive to Chinatown and make long-distance calls to Shanghai. Because it’s cheap there, $3 a minute. When the call was answered, she cried when she heard her mother’s voice. She said she wanted to go back to Shanghai, but her mother said, wait until you find your feet.
joined the dance company three months ago, before a performance. , the main actor was injured and unable to perform on stage. She was asked to learn Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" overnight the day before the performance. She agreed without hesitation, but only found out when watching the video. The rhythm and speed of this work are very difficult.
Tan Yuanyuan on the stage
In the rented house, she watched the video over and over again, chewing every move. The next day, on the stage, she seized the opportunity. , proved herself. Two years later, she became the youngest principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet and the first Chinese-American principal dancer.
During her 29 years at the San Francisco Ballet, Tan Yuanyuan starred in "Giselle". "Aurora", "Swan Lake", "The Little Mermaid" and other hundreds of works, becoming the longest-serving principal dancer in the dance company.
Now, she bids farewell to the past and welcomes her new life. "As a dancer, she has a new life. Will die twice, once when she stops dancing. But as long as you are creating, you are destroying death. "
Tan Yuanyuan's "The Little Mermaid"
Beauty and Cruelty
In order to understand these eighteen or nineteen-year-old dancers, Tan Yuanyuan often recalled the first day he entered the dance troupe. What kind of confusion he faced at that time, the artistic director at the time did What kind of decision should she make? She wants to find those young people who are as obsessed with ballet as she was back then and help them avoid detours.
She envies today's young people on the Internet. , with just one swipe, you can see the world’s most classic ballet works. “They were spoiled, which was not the case when we were children. We could only wait to go to the library to read the cassettes because we were afraid of playing them too many times. It’s broken, it’s limited time, so I can’t even take a second look. "
Tan Yuanyuan's "Swan Lake"
As the artistic director, the most difficult problem she faces is the injuries of actors. "Our troupe currently has less than 50 actors. When you want to dance a big play, it is just right. Use it, if someone is injured or sick, they won't be able to jump. "
This time, the male dancer who played the "sacrifice" in "The Rite of Spring" injured his cervical vertebra two months ago, compressing the nerves and causing dizziness. He couldn't even stand up. This role requires physical strength and skills. It's like a marathon on the stage, and you have to continue until you are exhausted. This means that it is difficult to find someone to replace him in a short time. Tan Yuanyuan encourages him to actively treat and recover and calm his emotions. After two months of recovery, he finally returned to the stage and gave an explosive performance.
Ballet dancers are like athletes. Pain is inevitable. How to face the pain and how to cover it up in smart ways is important for everyone. A challenge that a dancer must face. “If you are injured and still want to dance, knowing how to dance is the most important thing. "Tan Yuanyuan said.
Suzhou Ballet's "The Rite of Spring"
The most serious injury she suffered was in 2005. When the 28-year-old she was dancing "Giselle", she wanted to bend her waist a little more and raise her legs higher. A little, stay in the air a little longer.But because of this crazy jump, her hip bone was dislocated. The dislocation caused tears in the body that were difficult to repair, and the success rate of the operation was only 30%.
"I felt very complicated at the time, but I didn't want to bow my head. I thought, this may be God's arrangement, but I have to work harder. If you don't work hard, how will you know that there will be no improvement. If you try hard and it doesn't work, then just follow the arrangement. "She saw several doctors, compared different treatment options, and finally gave up surgery and chose conservative treatment.
What is known is that two months later, she miraculously returned to the stage. But no one knows what kind of recovery process she went through in those two months, and what kind of suffering and pain she went through.
Tan Yuanyuan's "Giselle"
Today, Tan Yuanyuan is busy going back and forth between Shanghai and Suzhou, and still insists on ballet training three days a week. She bid farewell to the San Francisco Ballet, but she is still training and waiting, eager to one day encounter the right work and the right role and return to the stage. She also looks forward to leading the dancers of Suzhou Ballet to a broader world stage.
"Ballet is a beautiful and cruel art." Tan Yuanyuan said, "Day after day, relying on self-discipline, hard work, tenacity, and coexistence with injuries, against gravity and the irreversible decline of body functions."
Article /Editor by Shangguan News reporter Wu Tong
/Cui Wei
