YuanYuan Zhang

Out of the Chinese bubble 

When she was sixteen, YuanYuan moved up to the Shanghai Theatre Academy, where the standard was considerably higher than at her previous dance school. “That was intense. I worked like crazy for four years.” In Shanghai, she also came out of her ‘Chinese bubble’. Stimulated by lots of performances and by taking part in ballet competitions, she discovered the international dance world, through the internet. “I saw videos of Dutch National Ballet and they looked so good. Then I realised that ballet was a Western art form, so if I wanted to learn and discover more, I’d have to go to Europe or America.” 

Fate was kind to YuanYuan. When she won gold at a ballet competition in South Africa, in 2014, one of the jury members was Ernst Meisner (artistic coordinator of the Junior Company). Shortly afterwards, she heard that she was welcome in Amsterdam. “My parents thought I’d be joining the National Ballet of China, who had also offered me a contract. It was only when my visa had been arranged that I announced casually, ‘I’m going to the Netherlands!’”

Lots of nods and smiles 

Despite YuanYuan’s open and sociable nature, with no grasp of the English language her start in Amsterdam was a difficult one. “I was always trying to guess what people meant and I responded mainly with lots of nods and smiles.” However, she soon made friends in the Junior Company, and after just one year she moved up to Dutch National Ballet, where things went really well for her in the first few years. “I may have been fifth or sixth cast, but even in the rank of élève I already got to dance some nice solo roles.” After a couple of promotions, she was given leading roles in Coppelia, The Nutcracker & The Mouse King, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and several Balanchine ballets. Swan Lake is a particular favourite, as is Giselle, the title role of which she hopes to add to her repertoire one day. “Because you can put all your emotions, drama and own story into it.” But at the same time, she really enjoys continually doing totally different things. “Works by choreographers like David Dawson, Wayne McGregor and William Forsythe: that’s the reason I came to Europe. One of the wonderful things about this kind of ballet is that instead of playing a role, you can be completely yourself.” 

Four Seasons

The corona pandemic had a profound effect on YuanYuan’s life. Not only was she unable to travel to China for four years, but in November 2022 her father died without her being able to say goodbye to him. And whereas before then she had been free of injuries, after the first lockdown she was out of action twice due to a broken bone in her foot. “That was tough. When the umpteenth scan still isn’t good, it’s hard to keep believing it’ll turn out okay.” Yet now she’s fully recovered, she says that in the end it also had important positive effects. During the time she was injured, she became qualified as a Pilates teacher. And she now has greater awareness of her body, which gives her more confidence mentally and means she enjoys her profession even more and is less bothered by nerves. “Now when I dance Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beauty, I’m much more occupied with the character I’m portraying than with the steps.” 

Text: Astrid van Leeuwen