Meng Ningning

After graduating with honours from the Beijing Dance Academy, Meng Ningning joined the National Ballet of China in 1996. She was named one of the National First Class Performers in China in 2004.

At the National Ballet of China, Ningning danced major and leading roles in many productions, including the Chinese ballets The Red Detachment of Women, Raise the Red Lantern, Yellow River, and classical ballets The Fountain of Tears by Ben Stevensen, Le Corsair, Sylvia by Lycette Darsonval, Giselle, Raymonda and Don Quixote by Rudolf Nureyev.

She has also danced the leading role in Swan Lake by Natalia Makarova, Carmen and Pink Floyd by Roland Petit, Balanchine's works such as Who Cares, The Four Temperaments, and Serenade, William Forsythe's In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, and Rudi van Dantzig's Four Last Songs.

In 1998, she worked on a contemporary pas de deux with a Dutch choreographer, which was performed for the Queen of the Netherlands. In 2002, she won the Gold Medal at the 4th Nagoya International Ballet & Modern Dance Competition in Japan. In August 2006, she was invited to perform The Sleeping Beauty and a contemporary piece Mountains and Rivers at the 4th Art Festival in Turkey. Recently, she worked with British choreographer Akram Khan in a new work Bahok, which was successfully presented in many countries around the world.

Ningning toured with National Ballet of China to the UK and performed the principal role in Raise the Red Lantern directed by YiMou Zhang at Royal Opera House. In January 2009, she performed her leading role of QingHua in The Red Detachment of Women at the Paris Opera. In 2010 Ningning was invited to perform as a guest artist in the Queensland Ballet International Gala, and in 2011 she joined the Company as a Soloist.

Ningning was promoted to Principal in November 2011, effective from 1 January 2012.