11 Facts About Yuanyuan Tan

Yuan Yuan Tan is a Chinese ballet dancer who was principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet.

Yuanyuan Tan entered Shanghai Dance School at the age of 11.

Yuanyuan Tan's fate was settled by a coin toss - the coin landed on heads and Yuan Yuan Tan started her dancing career.

Yuanyuan Tan won multiple international awards at an early age; including a gold medal and the Nijinsky Award at the 1st Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition and a gold medal in the 5th International Ballet Competition in Paris.

Yuanyuan Tan was at that time the youngest principal dancer ever in the history of the San Francisco Ballet.

Yuanyuan Tan created roles in Tomasson's The Fifth Season, Chi-Lin, Silver Ladders and 7 for Eight; Possokhov's Magrittomania, Damned and Study in Motion; Wheeldon's Continuum and Quaternary and Welch's Tu Tu.

Yuanyuan Tan's repertory includes Ashton's Thais Pas de Deux; Balanchine's Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Concerto Barocco, Prodigal Son and Apollo; Duato's Without Words, Robbins' In the Night, Dances at a Gathering and Dybbuk; and Makarova's Paquita.

Yuanyuan Tan has been featured in the Chinese versions of Vogue, Esquire, and Tatler.

On October 16,2013, Tan had appeared in Christopher Wheeldon's Ghosts and Cinderella at the David H Koch Theater and the same year appeared in Edwaard Liang's Symphonic Dances.

In 2020, after 7 months off stage since March 2020 due to COVID-19, Yuanyuan Tan appeared in the second season of Dance Smash, a Chinese talent show produced by Hunan Satellite TV that features the technology to capture diverse dance styles in motion.

In January 2024, Yuanyuan Tan announced her retirement from the San Francisco Ballet company, her final performance was as Marguerite in Frederic Ashton's Marguerite and Armand on February 14,2024.