Life changed course for China-born Chengwu Guo when his mother dragged him to ballet classes when he was 10.
He admits he was having too much fun swimming in the Yangtze River and playing marbles with friends.
“My mum said, ‘I need to give you some- thing to do to get you out of trouble’,” he said.
So she enrolled him in ballet classes, even though he retorted, “Dancing is for girls.”
But they struck a deal. If he didn’t enjoy himself he was allowed to stop.
Fast forward 14 years, and Guo, who now lives in Bundoora with his parents, has been promoted to the Australian Ballet’s highest rank of principal dancer.
The announcement was made onstage after the closing performance of the La Sylphide season at the Sydney Opera House on November 25.
“It took a couple of days to sink in,” Guo said. “It’s such a big step for a dancer.” Guo moved to Australia five years ago after winning the prestigious Prix de Lausanne in 2006. The win entitled him to a dance training scholarship of his choice, which he did at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne.
At 24, Guo is the youngest of the Australian Ballet’s 11 principal artists. In 2009, he won the Chinese version of So You Think You Can Dance and appeared as the teenage Li Cunxin in the screen adaptation of Mao’s Last Dancer.
The Australian Ballet’s artistic director, David McAllister, said Guo was a dancer to watch. “He has stage charisma in spades, an almost pyrotechnic technique that lights up any role he takes on. He can match any dancer in the world for dazzling moves.”
