"It's 3 p.m. Beijing time, 10 a.m. Moscow time, I'm in San Francisco, it's 11 a.m. – we're in a different time zone on the planet, it's dance, it's camaraderie, let's cross the barrier of the epidemic and get together through online video." On November 18th, the Sino-Russian Dance Art Education Forum was connected by "clouds", and Tan Yuanyuan, principal dancer of San Francisco Ballet, sent blessings for transnational exchanges.
At the forum with the theme of "Modern World - Cooperation and Innovation - Development of Dance Together", Chinese and Russian dance art experts and scholars exchanged views from the perspectives of student training, creation, development history of dance education and discipline construction. During the forum, the two colleges also signed an inter-university strategic cooperation agreement. Tan Yuanyuan said that the exchange and cooperation between Chinese and Russian dance academies is a brand new attempt, and in the future, it will continue to expand the "circle of friends" of Shanghai dance, promote more world-renowned dance academies and troupes to establish strategic partnerships with their alma mater, combine going out and inviting in, participate in the construction of Shanghai international cultural metropolis, and make dance a bright cultural business card in Shanghai and even China.
Founded in 1773, the Moscow Dance Academy is one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet schools in the world. After more than 200 years of development, the academy gathers many dance experts and scholars, is the largest dance academy in Russia, with strong teaching staff, and most of the dancers of the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre Ballet are from the academy, known as the "cradle of dancers". Shanghai Theater Academy is a famous comprehensive art institution of higher learning in China, covering drama, film and television, dance, opera, fine arts and other disciplines, cultivating all kinds of outstanding artistic talents for the country and society, and an important base for the cultivation of high-level artistic talents in China.
As a ballet dancer who was enlightened in China and developed in the international dance world, Tan Yuanyuan admits that Russian ballet has an irreplaceable influence on her growth. "When I was a child, the first time I saw Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake on the TV screen, I felt the charm of ballet and secretly resolved to become a ballet dancer and perform the beauty of swans on stage."
In December 1992, Tan Yuanyuan, who was still a student at the Shanghai Dance School, won the only gold medal at the 5th International Ballet Competition in Paris, France, and won the highest prize of the "Order of the City of Paris". At that time, she met the competition judge, the Russian ballet master Kalina Ulanova. According to Tan Yuanyuan, when the award was awarded, the 82-year-old Ulanova patted the girl's shoulder and said, "You will become a very good ballet dancer in the future, but there is one thing to remember - when dancing, you must enter the play, and you must dance with your heart." Later, this sentence became Tan Yuanyuan's motto.
After joining the San Francisco Ballet, Tan Yuanyuan has performed in Russia many times, and has also had contact and cooperation with many Russian ballet masters, such as Natalia Makarova, Shelgae Fellin, Alexei Ratmansky, Yuri Posokhov, etc., and truly feels the charm of the Russian school of ballet. Four years ago, Tan Yuanyuan invited partners from all over the world to visit the nine major ballet troupes in Europe and the United States, and launched the book "Art on the Tiptoe - The World Ballet Tour" for a year, which focused on the two famous russian troupes - the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet and the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Ballet. Due to various origins and knowledge of Russian ballet, Tan Yuanyuan Studio planned and organized the event.
In recent years, Tan Yuanyuan has been experimenting with the cross-border and integration of art. "It's not just about bringing together ballet, classical dance and modern dance, but also allowing different genres and different national art forms to collide with each other, bringing new inspirations and ideas, so that different elements and different ideas can coexist harmoniously." Tan Yuanyuan said: "Working with artists in different fields can inspire each other and learn new things. Looking back at the art classics left over thousands of years, are not they all born in countless collisions and fusions? I believe that cross-border and transnational exchanges can give artists more nourishment and push art further afield. ”
Author: Xuanjing
Editor: Guo Chaohao