Fangqi Li

Photo: Jon Taylor.

Originally from Zhengzhou, China, Fangqi Li studied ballet at the Secondary School of the Beijing Dance Academy and with The National Ballet of China.  She won scholarships for six consecutive years (2010-2016) from her school and the government, and was regularly honored as a Merit Student.  She participated in summer intensive programs at American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Heritage, and the Beijing IBCC.

Li’s awards include first prize in Group C at Beijing Dance Academy’s 5th Annual International Ballet Competition for Dance Schools (2014), third prize at the Youth America Grand Prix Asian Regional Semi-Finals (2015), and second prize at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition (2016).  In 2017, Li was a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne.

Li joined ABT Studio Company in September 2017, became an apprentice with the main Company in January 2018, and joined the corps de ballet in June 2018. She was promoted to Soloist in September 2024. Her repertoire includes Sonya in Crime and Punishment, Queen of the Dryads and a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Maiden in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, Myrta and Moyna in Giselle, the pas de deux from Great Galloping Gottschalk, a Shade in The Kingdom of the Shades, Rosaura in Like Water for Chocolate, the Spanish Dance in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Desdemonda in Othello: A Dance in Three Acts, The Swallow in The Seasons, Rose Pas de Trois in Susan Jaffe’s The Sleeping Beauty, Act III, the pas de trois, a big swan, and the Polish Princess in Swan Lake, Ceres and Terpsichore in Sylvia, Young Clarissa and “Becomings” in Woolf Works, leading roles in La Boutique and Les Sylphides, and featured roles in Bach Partita, Deuce Coupe, La Follia Variations, In the Upper Room, Petite Mort, and Sinfonietta. She created a leading role in Zephyr.

ABT is grateful to Irene Shen for supporting the Dancer Fund in honor of Fangqi Li.