Celebration of 10th anniversary on pointe

At 39, he maintains his passion for dancing, and hopes to gradually "shift his focus onto administrative work and choreography instead of retiring from the stage and quitting dancing completely".

Wu began taking ballet classes when he was 9 and joined the Shanghai Ballet at 17. He made rapid progress in the company, and was promoted to principal dancer several years after that. In 2007, he won best male dancer at the New York International Ballet Competition, as well as the special jury award named after Igor Youskevitch, co-founder of the competition.

"At that time, many people thought I would pursue an international career instead of returning to Shanghai," Wu says. "But I returned and managed to build an international career at the Shanghai Ballet, working with some of the best international choreographers and talents."

Dancers grow and improve through the portrayal of different characters and collaboration with other partners, says Xin Lili, artistic director of the Shanghai Ballet. The company was founded in 1979 and developed from the performance team of The White-Haired Girl, which debuted in 1964 as China's first original ballet production.