The way ballerina Tan Yuan Yuan tells it - and though she is speaking by phone from California you can imagine her eyes widening in that Audrey Hepburn of a face as her voice becomes breathless - when the San Francisco Ballet's artistic director tracked her down in a Stuttgart school and persuaded her to give a performance with his company, she was genuinely shocked.
'There was just so much surprise. How did he get my address? How could he have remembered me from a dance competition more than a year and a half ago?' Helgi Tomasson's ability to pick them is a talent that has made the San Francisco Ballet, America's oldest classical troupe, such a dazzling prospect for any young dancer. Tan was 21 when she arrived for her tryout last year and stayed 'because I thought 'well, OK' ' when Tomasson told her she would be very welcome. It just seemed a good opportunity, she says.
The dancer from Shanghai is now seen as a leader of the new intake regenerating an already-highly rated company, a rail-thin sprite whose verve and phenomenally high extension have not only brought her praise but made her one of the principal dancers in a remarkably short time.
Hong Kong will get a chance to witness what Tomasson spotted on August 29 and 30, when Tan and Roman Rykin, another principal with the San Francisco Ballet, dance in a Hong Kong Ballet Group summer gala that opens with a performance of Peter and the Wolf.
Tan and Rykin - 'he's just a little short for me - I have big feet', she says - will dance the pas de deux from Giselle Act II, a ballet that is the very essence of the romantic ballet movement. Rykin is her peasant lover Albrecht.
'It's one of my favourite ballets, a challenging role which is very emotional. But I always enjoy it so much,' says Tan.
She finds dancing the scene ethereal. 'You go from a crazy scene where she goes mad and kills herself when she learns he is a prince and is already engaged, to this light, airy role where Giselle is a ghost, forgives him and saves his life. It's very adagio and terribly sad.' Tan and Rykin will also dance the Wedding Scene from Sleeping Beauty Act III. She loves romantic ballets and their expression of human emotions.
