Sun Rui (dancer)


Sun Rui is a Chinese classical dancer. He was born on November 9, 1984 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. He is now a classical dancer of Beijing Dance Academy Youth Troupe and a performer of Beijing Contemporary Dance Theatre.

Early life

Sun Rui started to practice dancing at the age of 6, and was admitted to the Secondary School of Beijing Dance Academy at the age of 10. Since then, he had to leave his family and live by himself as the school is in Beijing, which is thousands of kilometers away from his hometown. As the only kid, this was a huge decision to both him and his family. Although painful, he survived loneliness and tough training in the school. Later, he continued with his bachelor of Chinese classical dance at Beijing Dance Academy, one of the best dance institutions in China.

Career

After his graduation from Beijing Dance Academy in 2005, Sun Rui joined Beijing Dance Academy Youth Troupe as a classical dancer. In 2008, he joined Beijing Contemporary Dance Theatre. Because of his outstanding dancing skills and styles, Sun Rui showed up in numerous performances both nationally and internationally.

Selected National Performances

Sun Rui's dancing style is unique and outstanding. His height, 183 cm, and flexible body enable him to display both strength and flexibility in his dance. Other than that, he mixes rhythmic gymnastics and ballet into his classical dancing, and makes it more aesthetic. He is also involved and excels in contemporary dance.

Awards

Chinese Classical Dance

Since his early years, Sun Rui started to stand out of classical dancers of his age and win multiple awards in the national competitions. In 2000, at the age of 16, he won silver in the junior group of the 6th 'Peach & Plum Cup' Dance Competition, which is one of the highest-level dance competitions in China. His performance in that competition, 'Little Boy', is so successful that it has been repeated by many juveniles in all kinds of dance competitions since then. In 2003, by the dance 'Bamboo Dream', he won silver in the classical dance category of the 7th 'Peach & Plum Cup' Dance Competition. In 2005, his another version of 'Bamboo Dream' won him silver in the classical dance category of the 3rd CCTV Dance Competition. In 2005, his presentation of 'Plum' was awarded bronze in the classical dance category and gold in performing category of the 5th 'Lotus' Dance Competition of China.

Contemporary Dance

In addition to classical dance, he also received awards for his contemporary dance. In 2007, his solo dance 'Chant of the Yellow River' brought him the 'Wen Hua' award in the 7th National Dance Competition. In 2008, he finished first in the contemporary dance event and third in the mixed finale of the 7th Premio Roma Concorso Internazionale di Danza, Italy.

Car Accident

Months after Sun Rui won his first national dance award, a tragedy struck him. In Feb 2001, a car accident happened to him and some other junior dancers when he was on a tour with the Secondary School of Beijing Dance Academy in the United States. Although he survived the tragic accident, his pelvis was fractured. As this part of bone is critical to a dancer, his dancing career seemed to be doomed. However, Sun Rui did not give up. After painful rehabilitation and even harder training, he stood on the stage again. His journeys to the podiums of various national and international dance competitions resumed.

Popularity

Although Sun Rui is well-known within the dance communities and small groups of dance fans, his name was not familiar to the audience for long time. In Jan of 2009, he was chosen as the lead dancer of the dance 'Butterfly Love for Flowers' in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. His performance showed the life of a butterfly and its love for flowers. 'Butterfly Love for Flowers' was later voted by the national audience as 'My Favorite Dancing and Singing Show' of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala 09. Since then, his popularity expands from the dance communities and dance fans to more and more Chinese audience.

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