Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan in Finding Light

Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan in Finding Light. Music by Antonio Vivaldi, choreography by Edwaard Liang. Dance Open 2017 Gala, shot 24.4.2017 in the Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia.

See all galleries from Dance Open 2017 Gala evening

See all galleries from Dance Open 2017 Gala evening

Yuan Yuan Tan is currently principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, (born in Shanghai in 1977), Chinese: 谭元元; traditional Chinese: 譚元元; is a. She entered Shanghai Dance School at the age of 11. Initially her father opposed this, as he wanted her to become a medical doctor. Her mother, however, was very supportive. Her fate was settled by a coin toss – the coin landed on heads and Yuan Yuan Tan started her dancing career. She 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 (1993) and a gold medal in the 5th International Ballet Competition in Paris (1992). At age 18, she became a soloist dancer with the San Francisco Ballet Company. Two years later, in 1997, at age 20, she was promoted to principal dancer, attaining the highest position for a ballet dancer, an unusually rapid upward path. She was at that time the youngest principal dancer ever in the history of the San Francisco Ballet company.

Davit Karapetyan principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet. He was born in Yerevan, Armenia,  studied in Armenian School of Ballet, later School of Zurich Ballet, in Switzerland. Joined San Francisco Ballet in 2003.

Edwaard Liang (born 1975 or 1976 in Taipei, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese-born American dancer and choreographer. He grew up in Marin County, California. Liang began studying dance at the age of 5. He entered the School of American Ballet in New York City in 1989, joined New York City Ballet in 1993 and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1998. In 2001, Liang left the New York City Ballet to dance in Fosse on Broadway. He returned to New York City Ballet from 2004-2007. Liang began choreographing around 2003. In July 2013 Liang became artistic director of BalletMet.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Dance Open, special thanks to Ekaterina Galanova and Kristina Proku