Introduction

Wang Yuanyuan is a dance artist and the director of Beijing Contemporary Ballet. He graduated from the Choreography Department of Beijing Dance Academy in 1995 and stayed at the school, and later obtained a master's degree in dance from California Institute of the Arts. He has won awards in many choreography competitions at home and abroad. She has collaborated with Zhang Yimou on the ballet "Raise the Red Lantern", choreographed dances for Feng Xiaogang in the movie "The Banquet", and was also invited to create for dance companies including the National Ballet of China and the Royal Danish Ballet. In 2008, she co-founded the Beijing Contemporary Ballet with Han Jiang, Tan Shaoyuan and other stage artists from different fields, and has served as artistic director and choreographer to this day.

He graduated from the Choreography Department of Beijing Dance Academy and the Choreography Department of California Institute of the Arts with a master's degree.

Served as resident choreographer of the National Ballet of China; guest choreographer of the Royal Danish Ballet; guest choreographer of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; choreographer of the New York City Ballet Choreographers Institute; guest choreographer of the Shanghai Ballet; Tianjin Ballet Special guest director.

He has won the Best Choreography Award at the French International Dance Competition, the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria, the Jackson International Ballet Competition in the United States, the Russian International Ballet Competition, and the Shanghai International Ballet Competition, becoming the first person to win four times Chinese choreographer who won the International Best Choreography Award.

In 2011, Wang Yuanyuan was commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival to create the dance drama "Jin Ping Mei".

In 2008, he was the choreographer for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and served as the Olympic torch bearer. In the same year, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts specially invited the director of "Crossover".

In 2007, he created the modern dance drama "The Dream" based on "The Peony Pavilion".

In 2006, he created the dance drama "Eros" for the Royal Danish Ballet and performed it at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. In the same year, he was commissioned by Guizhou Province to create the dance drama "Red Zunyi 1935".

In 2005, he choreographed the musical "Tianshui" of Shanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theater. Accepted the invitation from the famous director Feng Xiaogang to serve as the dance director of the movie "The Night Banquet". Created the modern ballet "Dialogue with Chopin" for the Shanghai Ballet. He collaborated with American composers and the Danish Chamber Orchestra Azales in the multimedia dance concert "Music-Color" and created "Glimpses of the Xiangjiang River" and "Monologue".

In 2004, he created "House of Flying Daggers" and "Night Star" for Tianjin Ballet. In the same year, he was invited by the School of Dance of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as a guest choreographer and created "Pear Blossom Dream".

In 2003, he was invited by Mr. Peter Martins of the New York City Ballet Choreography Institute to become the guest choreographer in 2003.

In 2001, he was admitted as a graduate student at the famous California Institute of the Arts Dance School and received a scholarship to further his studies in the United States. During the two years at the school, he also taught modern dance courses and choreographed and directed several works such as "Personal Image", "Passage" and "Song of the Four Seasons", as well as dance TV productions.

In 2001, he collaborated with the famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and was invited to become the choreographer of the ballet "Raise the Red Lantern". And conducted a world tour in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, and Australia. And won the China National Stage Art Excellence Project Award.

In 1999, he served as the dance director at the International Computer Music Festival and created "Blood" and "Light of a Foreign Land". He became the resident choreographer of the National Ballet of China and created "Butterfly Lovers", which premiered at the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the National Ballet of China. Later in the same year, "The Nutcracker", "Rainbow in the Night", "Falling Love", etc.

In 1995, she was invited to choreograph the opening ceremony of the United Nations’ Fourth International Conference on Women.

In 1997, he created "Traction" and guided students to participate in the 7th International Dance Competition in Paris, France, and won the silver medal in modern dance. Reporter Interview

These articles in your new work "Wild Grass" are poetic and full of metaphors

Beijing News: Lu Xun's "Wild Grass" became the source of inspiration for your new work. In what places did it touch you? Lost you?

Wang Yuanyuan: The whole "Weeds" has the same temperament: survival. After September last year, the living environment of the dance troupe gave me this experience. There are many things hidden in my heart and it is difficult to express them.

What I originally wanted to do was "Wandering", but later I felt that it was too specific and had too little space for the director and the audience. The interpretation of creation should not come from me or Lu Xun. No matter what the subject matter is, it must go through your own inner path and make it yours.

Beijing News: There are more than twenty pieces in Lu Xun's "Wild Grass", but you only selected a few of them. How did you choose?

Wang Yuanyuan: Think about it from the perspective of dance presentation. These pieces are most easily related to dance, they are all poetic and full of metaphors. These metaphors reflect differently in everyone's mind.

"Shadow's Farewell" premiered in Beijing in April this year and is about the relationship between you and the shadow, controlling and being controlled; "Dead Fire" premiered at the Royal Danish Theater in May and is about the relationship between you and the shadow. I worked with actors whose limbs I was not familiar with at all. Even after watching it, I felt it didn’t look like my work. What came out was very fresh; when I was rehearsing "Polar Dance", it was only 20 days before its premiere in Suzhou, and I was sick again. I was so nervous that I burst into tears sitting in the rehearsal hall. The actors were waiting for me to tell them what to do.

Concept: Modern dance is about thinking, not any technique

Beijing News: How do you define "contemporary ballet" and "modern dance" in the usual sense?

Wang Yuanyuan: The ballet company thinks we are a modern dance company, and the modern dance company thinks we are a ballet company. Actually we are a modern dance company. From twenty years ago to now, the impression left by modern dance on the audience is almost to emphasize individuality, which has evolved into "I dance mine, you like it or not, and you can't understand it because you are low-level." I don't want this, I want to communicate more with the audience. To me, modern dance is a way of thinking, the thinking in the mind of the choreographer, not any technique.

Beijing News: There are obvious ballet elements in your works, but there was no ballet in your previous study background.

Wang Yuanyuan: Many of my works are arranged for ballet companies. I am also used to working in ballet companies. The actors are in good physical condition and are very cooperative. The working system of the ballet company is very rigorous, and the rehearsals are also very standardized. This system has also helped me establish the current dance company, and I can run it in an orderly manner.

But when working in a modern dance company, you will feel that everyone is a choreographer. None of us currently have actors specifically trained for modern ballet. Ballet training is very rigid. If an actor doesn't train, he won't be able to meet my requirements. It usually takes a year for the actors in our troupe to reach a relatively important position in the work.

Current Situation: After becoming a dancer, I no longer feel as miserable as a film and television actor

Beijing News: Many foreign dancers are still dancing at an old age. Why do most Chinese dancers eat? "Youth Rice"?

Wang Yuanyuan: Dancers often pay out of proportion to their rewards. After you have been a dancer, you will not feel how hard it is to be a film and television actor. Europe has professional insurance for dancers, which is important. Dancers in our country get flustered when they reach the age of 25 and worry about what they will do if they can no longer dance, so many of them change careers right after graduation.

For a dance company, it is also very difficult to retain a good actor. Our annual actor renewal rate is about 20%. The actors who stay may feel that the development and works of the troupe can attract them, but they can only dance for one more year.

Beijing News: How many of your classmates are still engaged in this industry?

Wang Yuanyuan: I have two groups of classmates. I am the only one left in Beijing Dance High School, and I and I are in the university. Gao Yanjinzi and two. The High School Affiliated to the Dance Academy has become the middle school affiliated with Chinese Opera, and many people have changed their careers to acting. The Affiliated Middle School has a special class that sends actors to China National Theater and Nortel. In addition to learning dance, they also learn vocal music and acting.

Beijing News: What motivates you to still be engaged in choreography?

Wang Yuanyuan: Spiritual satisfaction. Doing other things, I might be able to do better than I am now, or live a better and easier life, but happiness is very important to me. Life is a process. If you accept this process of coming and going, you will not take unimportant things to heart.