Dancing to Who I Am | Yuanyuan Tan | TEDxNYU Shanghai

Thu May 8, 2025

In a stirring TEDxNYU Shanghai talk titled “Dancing to Who I Am,” Yuanyuan Tan invited the audience to “close your eyes—refuse to see walls at all,” before tracing her extraordinary path from a late‑blooming student to international gold‑medalist, SF Ballet principal, and finally to professor and artistic director in China. Through tales of coin‑flips, injury‑defying dedication, and a courageous leap into new roles, Tan makes the case that artistry—and life—are defined by continual rebirth. Ms. Tan began her ballet journey at age 11 at the Shanghai Dance School, swiftly gaining global recognition with gold medals and the Nijinsky Award. Joining SF Ballet in 1995, she became its youngest and first Chinese principal dancer. Honored by Time as a "Hero of Asia" and recipient of the Dance Magazine Award, she concluded nearly 30 years with SF Ballet in 2024. Today, she directs the Dance Collaboration Center at Shanghai Theatre Academy and serves as Artistic Director of Suzhou Ballet. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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