The Amazing Tan Yuan Yuan

Last Friday, Michael and I braved the hideous traffic and dismal rain to go into the city to see San Francisco Ballet’s “Jewels”, choreographed by George Balanchine.
Unlike most well-known ballets, this one does not have a story behind it. Instead, it consists of three parts – “Emeralds”, “Rubies” and “Diamonds”, choreographed to music by Faure, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, respectively. Therefore, one would think that only ballet aficionados would really appreciate it, because it is somewhat of a “purist” ballet piece.

What made the trip into the city worthwhile again, was the amazing Tan Yuan Yuan, whose otherworldly beauty on the dance floor truly sublimed ballet into something beyond a dance form. She was the lead dancer in the last piece “Diamonds”. According to Michael, she put the rest of the dancers to shame, or to be more precise, she put the rest of the ballet world to shame, as the San Francisco Ballet troupe really are already world-class.

While there are ballerinas who are just as skinny and light, who are just as precise and skilled, and who are as emotional and communicative, we have yet to see anyone else except for Tan Yuan Yuan who seems to have effortlessly combined all of those elements, and added more intangible signatures of her own. She seems lighter than a bird on stage. When she moves, it is without effort – she begins each move faster than anyone else, but immediately slows down earlier than others, creating an illusion of a fluidic movement. She made ballet beautiful.

Now I understand that it is not due to lack of appreciation for ballet that we never got into it back in Boston - rather, it is because the dancers we saw did not make ballet what it should have been or what it could have been. Any type of artistic expression eventually is judged by its audience. The artistic forms themselves can only come into life through the creative effort of their executors. Without Beethoven and Mozart, we would not have sufficient reason to appreciate classical music; without Van Gogh and Monet, we would not have sufficient reason to like oil paintings; without the Renaissance artisans, we don’t have sufficient reason to pay attention to architecture; and lastly, without Tan Yuan Yuan, there would be no reason to love ballet. She embodies what ballet is supposed to deliver and more – the artistic form comes alive through her.