Inside the human mind

Wang Yuanyuan's latest work Poisonous Apple explores human emotions.[Photo Provided to China Daily]

In 1995, she graduated from the academy with a major in choreography.

Three years later, she was named resident choreographer of the National Ballet of China.

From 2000 to 2002, she was trained at the California Institute of Arts School of Dance in Los Angeles.

Her passion for contemporary dance developed at a young age since she was not a fan of routine training or repeating movements, but was eager to create her own language.

"I am shy and introverted. Contemporary dance enables me to talk," she says.

"I feel relieved and real when I express myself through dance."

She has choreographed for China's top filmmakers, including a ballet for Zhang Yimou's 1991 film, Raise the Red Lantern, and the dance sequences for Feng Xiaogang's film The Banquet of 2006.

She has choreographed for big events, such as the return of Hong Kong in 1997 and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Her troupe, which functions without financial support from the government, has become a feature at international dance festivals.

In 2011, she debuted her work, Haze, at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Wang created the piece in 2009, linking environmental issues like pollution to emotional confusion.