THE Dance Society of Malaysia will present a varied fare for its annual International Ballet Gala 2012 from July 14-15.

The event, part of the KL Festival 2012, will showcase 10 international award-winning dancers. They are from Japan (four dancers), Hong Kong — People’s Republic of China (two), United States (three) and Venezuela (one). Malaysia will be represented by Steve Goh of JS Dance Theatre.

The dancers include China’s Tan Yuan Yuan (commonly referred in the West as Yuan Yuan Tan) and Damian Smith, principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet, Joseph Walsh and Karina Gonzalez from Houston Ballet, and stars of the Hong Kong Ballet including its principal dancer, Jin Yao.

Born in Jilin, China, Jin Yao, 32, graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1997 and joined the National Ballet of China that same year. After winning several accolades and awards, she was invited to perform at the World Ballet Star Gala in Seoul and the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2004. Jin Yao joined The Hong Kong Ballet as senior soloist that year and was promoted to her current position in 2005.

Jin Yao has danced principal roles in numerous company productions including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle. More recently, she represented the company at Youth America Grand Prix Gala “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” in New York, and at the International Ballettgala XI in Dortmund, Germany.

For the Ballet Gala, Jin Yao will dance the pas de deux from Turandot with colleague Wei Wei.

The Shanghai-born Tan, brand ambassador for Van Cleef & Arpels, became a principal dancer at the age of 20. She has danced lead roles in several works and created roles in Tomasson’s The Fifth Season, Chi-Lin, Possokhov’s Magrittomania, Fusion, Diving into the Lilacs, and RAkU.

Her repertory includes Balanchine’s Symphony in C, Liang’s Somewhere in Time and Makarova’s Paquita.

In December 2008, the award-winning Tan was featured as the Snow Queen in the PBS Great Performances broadcast of Tomasson’s Nutcracker, co-produced by San Francisco Ballet and KQED Public Television San Francisco, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York.

You can expect Tan to dance a solo and the grand pas de deux from Act 2 Giselle for the gala event.

Sabah-born Goh is a graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He recently won Best Performer at the 2012 Boh Cameronian Art Awards, among others. Goh will perform a contemporary solo.

The fund-raising production, in collaboration with Danceworks Production, will see a 20-strong Aswara Dance Company performing the opening item, a Malay contemporary performance.

The other 11 dance items include the pas de deux from Spartacus, ‘Wedding Night’ Pas de Deux from Madame Butterfly, The Red Violin (pas de deux), and Diving Into the Lilacs.

The ballet gala is under the artistic direction of Jie Choong Wan Chin.

INTERNATIONAL BALLET GALA 2012
When July 14 (8.30pm) & July 15 (3pm)
Where Panggung Sari, Istana Budaya
Tickets From RM65 (with RM3 surcharge)
Call 03-4147 8600, the IB Box Office at 03-4026 5558 or visit www.danceworks2012.org, www.ticket2u.biz
For the complete programme and list of guest artistes, see https://www.facebook.com/events/283864718296070/
For enquiries, call 03-4257 7642 (Helen), 017-608 5025 (Dr Chen)