Zhang Yan

A graduate of the Oriental Dance Department of Guangdong Dance and Drama College, Zhang Yan went on studying musical theatre performance at Beijing Dance Academy. After graduation, she has become full-time dance teacher at Guangzhou Art School, she also instructs Oriental and Chinese dance at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. In 2022, Zhang was recognised as one of the 10 Exceptional Teachers of the Greater Bay Area.

Since 2012, Hong Kong Dance Company has invited Zhang to star in and choreograph dance programmes, including the large-scale East Asian ballet Eastern Silk Road and the solo dance performance Seasons, Feelings. Zhang has performed and engaged in cultural exchanges in France, India, South Africa, and Singapore, and has been invited to serve as a judge for numerous dance competitions. She has extensive experience researching, choreographing, and performing classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam and Zen Dance, and has actively promoted Chinese folk dance culture and Indian classical dance in major schools throughout Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Zhang currently works as a choreographer and planner for Dance Drama Hong Kong.

Zhang has participated in many performances and events in recent years, including assisting in directing and planning for the Xuelong 2 cultural gala held in April 2024. In January of the same year, Zhang served as a programme planner of Indian music and dance and performed Indian partnered dance at the ‘Sha Tin Riverside Carnival cum Orchestral Concert Celebrating the Year of the Dragon’. In October 2023, Zhang assisted in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Yingge Dance Performance at the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong Drum Festival held by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In September 2023, Zhang was invited by the Yau Tsim Mong District Office and Kowloon Federation of Associations to plan, direct and star in the concert in celebration of the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Zhang also performed Indian dance at the event of the UNESCO Hong Kong Association Global Peace Centre in August 2022.