Life is like "dancing". A biography of Chinese dancer Chen Yanli

Life is like "dancing". A biography of Chinese dancer Chen Yanli. Xie Chengyan. From December 18th to 19th, 2009, a ballet feast will be held in Gilbert City...

Floating Life is Like "Dance" Biography of Chinese Dancer Chen Yanli by Xie Chengyan On December 18th and 19th, 2009, a ballet feast will kick off at the Hegli Center in Gilbert City. Southwest Youth Ballet and Chandler Symphony Orchestra will work together to perform the ballet classic "The Nutcracker" live. However, the "chef" of this Western art feast is a gentle and beautiful oriental, Ms. Chen Yanli, a Chinese dancer from Taiwan, China. Not only will she serve as the artistic director of the ballet "The Nutcracker", she will also play the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the second act of the ballet. This is her first performance in Phoenix since her farewell performance in 2004. Chen Yanli was born in Taiwan, China. She started learning dance at the age of 11 and specialized in ballet at the age of 15. In 1989, she starred in "Swan Lake" with the Taiwan Dance Company and attracted the attention of industry insiders. In 1990, she was admitted to the American Professional Ballet Company. In 1992, he became the first Chinese-American principal dancer in the history of Arizona Ballet until his retirement in 2004. In 2006, Chen Yanli established the Southwest Youth Ballet and served as its artistic director. "I was born in a small county town in Taiwan. Dance introduced me to a city that brought me to the United States and gave me a happy family. Dance and I will never be separated." Zao Chen Yanli In 1989, Chen Liyan came to the United States from Taiwan to apply for a professional ballet company. During the summer training, she met Zhang Qisheng, a young man from the Beijing Dance Academy who came to test the troupe. After the summer training, the two went to different cities, but the strange thing was that they were admitted to the same league and became colleagues. In a ballet company dominated by Westerners, these two Eastern faces are particularly eye-catching. "We were the only two Easterners who entered the Arizona Ballet in 1992, and we had to work harder than others." Chen Liyan told reporters that she worked with many male actors at that time. Most Western actors were very serious during rehearsals, but once the rehearsal was over, the work was completed. The only exception was working with Zhang Qisheng. They would use their weekends to do more homework for themselves. When she collaborated with her husband on "Romeo and Juliet" for the first time, Chen Yanli said that she and her husband had big differences in their understanding of dance: "I thought women's emotions should be more reserved at the time, but he thought that since we are in love, we should express them." The two serious and persistent young people were very insistent on their own understanding of dance, and neither of them was willing to give in. When they were in a stalemate, they had to invite the rehearsal teacher. The rehearsal teacher's explanation seemed to only alleviate some of the conflicts, but still failed to convince both parties. Finally, we had to invite the artistic director of the dance drama to solve the problem. It’s like they didn’t know each other before they started fighting. Because of this incident, the two people finally understood how extraordinary their feelings for each other were towards dance. "'Romeo and Juliet' is a performance with very delicate emotions. Not only do you have to perform your part well, but you also have to figure out the other person's thoughts, so as to achieve real communication." Chen Liyan said that the rehearsals were very hard during that period, but she also felt very happy. During the months of rehearsals, the two spent time together day and night, encouraging each other, and finally the official performance was about to begin. "At that time, I had forgotten that I was performing. As soon as I stretched out my hand, he knew what movements I wanted. It felt very special. Life and dance seemed to be integrated into one. It felt like we both cared about each other." Their elegant dancing and tacit cooperation impressed all the audience. Since then, in the history of Arizona ballet, there has been a pair of oriental Romeo and Juliet, and their wonderful interpretation of this dance drama has become a classic in the history of Arizona Ballet. In Chen Yanli's farewell performance in 2004, she put all her important life experiences on the stage. A rural girl walked slowly from the countryside. She danced gracefully and became the most beautiful dancer. She met her true love. The two got to know each other and came together and gave birth to their first child. The princess on the ballet stage, Chen Yanli, fixed her most beautiful moment on the stage, leaving the audience with the most perfect curtain call. Chen Yanli, who stepped down from the stage in 2006, formed a ballet company of her own. From a professional dancer to the artistic director of a dance drama, this transition is like going from "walking" to "dancing" in ballet. She has accumulated it for a long time: "Dance has taught me that there is no shortcut to anything. Only long-term accumulation can you succeed." On December 18, the former dreamy Mary has become the magical Sugar Plum Fairy. Chen Yanli will not only return to the stage to interpret the new Sugar Plum Fairy, but also integrate various music forms into the dance drama to realize her artistic dream. Let us wait and see and continue to appreciate her dance of life.