Perfect pointe

Her father used the shape of a pyramid to illustrate that ballet is a short-lived career and that very few make it to the top. But Sisi Qiu persevered and proved him wrong. She shares her story with Chen Jie.

At about 6 pm on a Friday in January 2011, Sisi Qiu was waiting outside the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. A few minutes later, Zubin Mehta came out to hug her and took her into the green room, which has a piano, a sofa and a desk covered by scores by Verdi and Mahler. On the walls were slips of paper including one that reminded Mehta that it was his grandson's birthday that day. The maestro was preparing to take the orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino to tour China. In addition to performing, Mehta would also launch his autobiography, The Score of My Life. Qiu is the translator of the Chinese edition. But Qiu is not a professional translator or a writer. She is a ballerina. Qiu danced with Bavarian State Ballet between 2003 and 2007 when Mehta was music director of the Bavarian State Orchestra.

And when Mehta's autobiography was published in 2006, a Europe-based Chinese newspaper commissioned Qiu to interview the maestro. Naturally, when Mehta decided to publish the book in China, Qiu came to mind.

Fast forward to two years later, Mehta returned to China with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to give the New Year concert at the Great Hall of the People on Dec 31, 2012, and by then, the second edition of his autobiography was ready to meet fans in China.

He also invited Qiu to dance at the concert with French dancer Cyril Pierre. The duo performed a pas de deux to Johann Strauss' Voices of Spring during the second half.

The encore composition is the Chinese piece Good News Travels from Beijing to Remote Villages. In a red dress, Qiu interpreted the Chinese celebratory tunes on her toes.

Qiu, 26, has been dancing since she was 8. After she saw part of the ballet Swan Lake on TV, she asked her mother to send her for dance classes.

"I guess every little girl dreams of becoming a white swan," Qiu says.

She was the oldest and tallest in the ballet class in Guangzhou, training under Peng Wu - who was among the first group of contemporary dancers in China, along with Jin Xing and Shen Wei.

Although she started later than others in her class, the gifted Qiu soon stood out and became Peng's favorite student.

When Qiu was 10, Peng took his students to perform in Hong Kong. Among the 12 programs, Qiu performed as lead dancer in eight.

She came to a crossroads when she was entering middle school. Her father wanted her to live a normal life because of her excellent grades - he had wished her to be a doctor or lawyer someday.

"My father used the pyramid to illustrate the career progression of a ballerina - unless you reach the top, you will be nobody. He asked me whether I was ready for it. I was too young to understand. I said 'Yes, I want to dance'," she recalls.

And in 1995, following Peng's recommendation, Qiu left home for Shanghai Ballet School. Based on her age, Qiu was admitted into the third grade.

Compared to her classmates who had received two years of systematic training, Qiu's only coaching was dancing once a week with Peng's amateur team. From being a lead dancer, Qiu descended to being the ugly duckling in the new class.

To catch up with the rest, she worked extra hard, dancing when others were taking afternoon naps or shopping on weekends. Life was tough. Being alone in Shanghai, she also suffered from bad homesickness.

But five years later, her break came, and all her tears and effort paid off. During a trip to Germany, Peng gave the famous German ballerina Birgit Keil a video of Qiu's performance.

Keil, who was also director of the Academy of Dance of the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts, liked what she saw and offered Qiu a scholarship.

From 2000 to 2003, Qiu studied under Keil. "I learned not only the techniques, but also how to dance with emotions and how to portray a character," Qiu says.

Upon graduation, she auditioned at the prestigious Bavarian State Ballet - the greenest among the 400 hopefuls. Many of them were already professional dancers.

"I just did my best," she says.

She did not even realize that she had passed the audition when she was asked to perform a modern piece with nine other finalists. After the dance, a guy came up to her and said, "congratulations!" He was Ivan Liska, director of Bavarian State Ballet.

The audition propelled her dancing career. Four years with the Bavarian State Ballet, Qiu developed from a fresh ballet student to a mature ballerina.

"I don't like the simple white swan that much any more. To me, the sophisticated characters in La Traviata or Onegin are more interesting," she says.

She also has been exploring contemporary ballet. In 2004, she choreographed Cafe 1930 to the Piazolla's tango, followed by some other minor contemporary programs.

But Qiu soon became fed up of the mundane life she had led, which comprised only dancing. "From dance class to rehearsal rooms to stage and dorm, it is just too simple. I want to see more of the outside world and I want to be 'rich' mentally."

She left Bavaria for Paris where she took a MBA course at Mod'Art International. She went to galleries and museums to absorb the art culture and even learned oil painting from a local artist.

A more ambitious dream was born in Paris.

"Usually, a dancer become a choreographer or a coach when she is no longer young, no longer fits the stage. I want to do more while I am still young," she says.

After getting her MBA degree in 2009, she decided to return to China and established Wave Art Studio in Beijing.

"Only when you become head of a studio, a producer, then you realize how easy it was as a dancer," she says. "But I do not regret. I enjoy everything I do now."

In August 2009, she produced a gala Chinese L'amant at Reignwood Theater in Beijing. She choreographed and performed a pas de deux based on a popular Chinese novel Half Flame, Half Sea Water by Wang Shuo.

Qiu was commissioned to do Chopin on Toe, which toured Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing in 2010 - the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin.

After reading the love poems by the 6th Dalai Lama Tsang Yang Gyatso (1683-1706) while traveling in early 2011, she decided to create a dance about Tibet.

She went to Tibet several times in the last two years to learn more about Tibetan music and dance as well as to experience the holy plateau.

She has even invited a Tibetan dancer to choreograph with her and Zhang Tian'ai to design the costumes. A team including composers from China and abroad is writing the music scores. The show is scheduled to premiere late this year.

On Feb 14, Valentine's Day, Qiu and young pianist Sun Yingdi will perform Ballet on the Fingers at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

Contact the writer at chenjie@chinadaily.com.cn.