Yipeng Xu
Soloist
Joined Scottish Ballet: 2026
Training: Australian Ballet School & Secondary School of Beijing Dance Academy
Accolades: The Australian Ballet Telstra Ballet Dancer Award Nominee 2018 & 2022
Yipeng Xu is a Chinese-Australian dancer born in Xuzhou, China. He trained at Beijing Dance Academy and The Australian Ballet School. Yipeng spent almost a decade with The Australian Ballet, where he rose to the rank of Soloist. He later joined Finnish National Ballet as Second Soloist for the 2025–2026 season.
What career moment are you most proud of?
Dancing the title role of Harlequin in Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade.
What’s your favourite ballet to watch (and why)?
Nijinsky by John Neumeier and Swan Lake by Matthew Bourne. I love watching ballets with emotional depth.
What’s your dream role to perform (and why)?
Dream roles would be Infra by Wayne McGregor and Rubies Principle Couple in George Balanchine’s Jewels. I love the movement vocabularies of both choreographers.
What’s something people might not know about you?
I’m a certified Pilates instructor for both Mat and Reformer Pilates.
What’s your favourite book/movie (and why)?
Notting Hill is my favourite movie, because I love everything Julia Roberts in it, and London is one of favourite cities.
Harlequin in Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade
Kunstkamer by Paul Lightfoot, Sol León, Marco Goecke & Crystal Pite
Phlegmatic in George Balanchine’s the Four Temperaments
Harlequin/Spectre of the Rose in John Neumeier’s Nijinsky
Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit in Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
