Today, on the special day of National Ballet of China's participating in the appraising of the 12th China Art Festival with the performance of The Light of Heart, I, on behalf of the Company, announce that Cao Shuci is promoted to the Prima Ballerina of NBC! Let's congratulate her!

Cao Shuci's promotion is an encouragement and glory to everyone of NBC. The constant efforts and persistence made her achievements and gains today. Though having suffered from hurt and pains, she has never had the intentions to give up, just like the heroine 'Nianyu' she danced in The Light of Heart...Being able to stand on the internationally first-rate stage of the National Ballet of China, Cao Shuci is worthy of being regarded as another outstanding person among us. "

--After the performance of The Light of Heart, Director Feng Ying and all the cast members gathered on the stage, and joyfully and solemnly announced this exciting good news.

On May 15th, 2019, the National Ballet of China gave a wonderful performance of an original ballet The Light of Heart to participate in the appraising of the 12th China Art Festival in Shanghai. Together with the cheers applause from the juries and 2,000 Shanghai audience at Shanghai Poly Grand Theatre, who were deeply touched by the great love in the ballet and the insistence of the "Dunhuang people", Cao Shuci, who danced "Nianyu" in the ballet and won the 16th "Wenhua Performance Award", was honored to be promoted to the Prima Ballerina of National Ballet of China. It turned a new page of her performing career on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Company.

With her eyes full of tears, Cao Shuci said with excitement: "As for me, what I've received from the Company today is not only the glory of promotion, but also a trust and a sense of responsibility. Thank you, Director Feng and thanks to all the leaders of National Ballet of China! Thanks to he every colleague who have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with me! In my mind, he Prima Ballerina of NBC has always been the representatives of the highest artistic attainments of the Company, and there are continuous improvement for me to make. I will follow the examples of three Prima Ballerinas and the Premier Danseur Ma Xiaodong, to set strict demands on myself, not only in ballet art, but also in life and study.

At the same time, I would like to take this opportunity to say to all my friends of the Company that whenever I feel highly pressured and inadvertently, or be confronted by hesitation and frustration, it is every one of you who had given me inclusiveness, understanding, help and support to keep me constantly learning and growing! I am so proud that I am a member of you! "

Just as Director Feng said, the promotion of Cao Shuci is an encouragement and glory for every actor in Ballet of China; the dancers also expressed their congratulations to Cao Shuci one after another.

Cao Shuci

Graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 2006, Cao Shuci joined the National Ballet of China in the same year and become one of the youngest Principal Dancers of the Company in 2011. In 2019, Cao Shuci was promoted to the Prima Ballerina.

Since entering NBC, she has danced the leading roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, L' Arlesienne and many ballet works of famous choreographers, such as Natalia Makrova's Swan Lake and La Bayadère, John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid and Songs and Dances of the Earth. She is also the starring in many Chinese ballets of the Company like The Peony Pavilion, The Nutcracker (Chinese Version), Le Sacre du Printemps and The Light of Heart, as well as classical ballet pas de deux and modern ballet works like Close Your Eyes When It's Getting Dark, Hue of Dawn, Fragments, ec.

She won the Gold Medal of the Female Senior Group, the Best Pas de Duex Award and the Sponsor Special Award in the 9th American international ballet competition in 2010 and many other awards, such as the First Prize in the 7th National Dance Competition (Taoli Cup) in 2003, the Bronze Medal and the in the First Prize in news commentary in the 12th Varna international ballet competition in 2004, the Gold Medal in the 5th Helsinki International Ballet Competition and the Silver Medal in the 3rd CCTV Dance Competition in 2005, as well as the Best Dancer Award in the 18th Tripod Award in 2016. In 2019, Cao Shuci won the 16th Wenhua Performance Award.

As a guest artist, Cao has been invited to Krasnoyarskiy Kray, Russia and danced in the 3rd Asia-pacific Arts Festival in 2012, and in the next year she starred in Giselle in the Nureyev Art Festival in Ufa. In 2018, she was invited to Germany to star in Swan Lake of the Dortmund Ballet. And she has toured with the Company in Hong Kong and Macau as well as many countries all around the world, such as UK, France, Netherland, Russia, Germany, Brazil, America, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and so on.

In the year 2015, Cao starred in the Sino-Russian co-production film named "Ballet in the Flames of War". With the wonderful performance in the film, she won the Best Actress Award in the 12th Bondarchuk International Film Festival and the Best New Artist Award in the 13th Ozarov International Military Film Festival.

The Little Mermaid

The Nutcracker (Chinese Version)

The Rite of Spring

Congratulations to Cao Shuci!

This is a glorious moment to her!

and a pride to the Ballet of China!

Text by SunZheng

Photo by Shi Ren

Chen Yilu

Photographed byShi Ren