Check Out Irena Yin’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Irena Yin.

Hi Irena, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My start in dance is a classic one: my mom put me in ballet as a little girl. At first, I disliked going to class, but I eventually made friends and saw ballet as a fun and social activity. I primarily trained with Flora Cheong-Leen and Meili Zhu in Shanghai, China. The carefree mindset continued until I was around thirteen, when I began to take training seriously and decided to pursue ballet as a career. I loved the ambition and discipline ballet required. I loved being goal-driven and seeing results from the work I put into training.

Shortly after, I received an offer from Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and moved halfway across the world to begin my pre-professional journey. The training was very systematic and equipped me with fundamental skills of dancing as a corps de ballet – to move one with the group – that I’ve carried to this day. However, I reached a point where I wanted to attend competitions and intensives, and the constraints of ballet school did not allow me to do so.

I decided to take my training to Master Ballet Academy in Arizona, where my technique and artistry grew exponentially. As intended, I participated in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) and summer intensives at schools such as the Royal Ballet School. A year later, I moved back home to train privately while attending competitions and intensives on a year-round basis. During this time, I realistically assessed my prospects as a ballet dancer and concluded that I did not want to pursue this path. I enrolled in Shanghai American School to focus solely on academics.

I thought my story as a dancer would end here.

During my last semester of high school, with the stress of college applications gone, I signed up for an open contemporary dance class. The class introduced me to a new and exciting way of moving that ballet did not offer. Contemporary reignited my passion for dance, and I continued taking open classes until I left for college.

I committed to the University of Southern California as a Public Relations major with the intention of adding a minor in dance. Yet once I stepped foot into the dance building and felt the vibrancy of the community, I knew a minor in dance wouldn’t satiate me. I applied to USC’s BFA in Dance at the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance as an internal transfer student, where I’m about to head into my final year.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My path as a dancer has been anything but linear. When I fell out of love with dance and returned to a brick-and-mortar high school, I didn’t set foot in a ballet class for almost two years. Ballet can be extremely rigid, as the form favors specific natural-born facilities for aesthetic reasons. For instance, the lack of hyperextension in my legs meant that, aesthetically, my lines were considered “subpar.” It was a hard truth to accept. While some dancers successfully defy ballet’s confines, I wanted to explore other pursuits.

I tell my story with ease because I’ve made peace with all the “what-ifs.” What if I stayed at Elmhurst Ballet School? What if I auditioned for ballet companies instead of quitting? What if I had found contemporary dance sooner? Ultimately, I was able to grow more on a nonlinear path, and I would not change the diverse experiences for an expedited path.

My return to dance was challenging. Applying to USC Kaufman as an internal transfer seemed like an impossible feat. Internal transfers were subject to the same standards as prospective students, and unlike transferring to other majors, being a USC student did not provide any advantage. At the time, USC Kaufman had not accepted any internal transfers in the school’s history. I remember getting a call informing me of my acceptance the morning I moved out of my first-year dorm. I shed a couple of tears of happiness, relief, and triumph, and went back to moving cardboard boxes.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
During my time off of dance, I explored other facets of art that inform who I am as a creative today. I took an interest in textile design and fashion marketing, creating a personal project using MRI scans of an injury I sustained. In 2022, I attended Central Saint Martins’ fashion portfolio summer program. In hindsight, even when I stopped dancing, dance never left my side as I used other mediums to express movement.

At USC Kaufman, we take composition classes where we’re able to present choreography. As a choreographer, I take inspiration from daily life, often the mundane and fleeting moments. I see choreography through the lens of fashion and production design. Ironically, movement is the last piece of the puzzle in my choreography.

My work “professionals (generic),” presented in the Sophomore Composition showcase, was created shortly after my first internship. The work is a caricature of corporate life. I used blazers as a symbol of structure, conformity, and power. The movement was choreographed with costuming as an integral device. This past fall, I presented [IN-BETWEEN] in the Advanced Composition showcase. The work explored how dancers sanction touch and perceive physical space. The starting point for [IN-BETWEEN] were three inflatable cubes, one which stood taller than myself, that guided movement and served as set design.

When not dancing, I’m an aspiring advertising art director. Last summer, I completed an internship at Deutsch, where I had the opportunity to work on accounts such as Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. I believe creativity transcends across forms – it’s something that I hope to bring to whatever I do.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory is picking blackberries during recess with friends in elementary school. We would pick handfuls, wash the berries, and enjoy them before repeating the process.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ire.na/ and https://www.instagram.com/irena.yin

Image Credits
Nisian Hughes, Rachel Neville, Rose Eichenbaum