Prima Ballerina of National Ballet of China

Xu Yan graduated from Affiliated Dance School of Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2011, in the same year she joined the National Ballet of China and become the Principal Dancer in 2017. In 2025, Xu Yan was promoted to the Prima Ballerina.

Xu Yan starred in many world classic ballet works including Giselle, La Sylphide, and many ballet works of famous choreographers, such as Natalia Makrova's La Bayadère and Swan Lake, John Cranko's Onegin, as well as George Balanchine's Jewels, etc. She has also danced the leading roles in Chinese ballets such as The Red Detachment of Women, Chinese New Year, Like Flowers, A Dream of Red Mansions and the symphonic ballets Inspiration and Glory and Ode to Joy. She has danced the leading roles in almost all the repertoires of the Company, such as John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid, Don Quixote, The Crane Calling, The Light of Heart, and many other Chinese and foreign ballet works.

In 2013, Xu Yan was invited to participated in 18th International Ballet Gala in Dortmund. In 2017, she starred in Swan Lake at the invitation of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. While in 2025, she participated in the Gala d’etoiles at the invitation of The Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux.

In 2022, she participated as a choreographer for the first time in the 12th Ballet Workshop with the ballet work Live Show, and then created A Room of Her Own, The Goldberg Variations and The Peach Blossom Utopia in the following Ballet Workshop in 2023 to 2025.

Xu Yan won the Silver Award in Ballet Junior Females Division B of the 9th National Dance Competition (Taoli Cup) and the Bronze Medal in the 2nd Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition. At the same time, she and Qiu Yunting got the Award of Internship to the Moscow Theatre.