With the Finnish National Ballet since 2019
As a child, I was very athletic. My mother says I used to love listening to music, and if I saw dance moves on a TV programme, I would mimic them. I didn’t know anything about ballet back then, but watching dancers made me happy. I started learning traditional Chinese dances as a pre-schooler and took up ballet at my mother’s suggestion at the age of 10. I went to the Shanghai Dance School, from which I graduated when I was 17. After that, I took part in the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition and won a prize: an opportunity to study at the school of the Ballet Theatre.
I remember my first ballet shoes very well. I was still at ballet school, and I had only one pair to wear for several months. Those shoes were totally destroyed. My family would not spend that much money on ballet shoes, so my mother would repair them for me. When I became a professional, I came to understand the importance of the shoes, which are a principal tool for me. While at school, I’d still wear the shoes randomly on the left and right foot, but now I take great care to put each one on the correct foot.
It’s been difficult for me to find a shoe brand that fits me well. I never did in the whole seven years that I danced at the Hong Kong Ballet. Of course, they used very good quality brands there, it’s just that none of those was perfect for my foot. Here in Finland I had the chance to try on different brands and finally discovered the right one. I now wear Bloch shoes, which I am really content with, since they fit me like a glove.