Founder and Artistic Director

Yang Zhou is the founder and director of The American Z Ballet(AZB).She has been a professional coach in Classical Ballet, Pointe/Variations, Choreography, PBT,  and Contemporary.

Yang Zhou was born in Shanghai, China. She had seven years of professional ballet training at the Shanghai Dance School and received a full scholarship for seven years. She graduated with honors in 2003 and entered the Shanghai Ballet in the same year. She worked with Shanghai Ballet for 11 years as a leading soloist member of the company. During her 11 years performing career, she has been invited to perform around the world, performing as many as one hundred times a year.she has performed in SwanLake,Giselle,Romeo and Juliet,Nutcracker ,Coppelia, La Sylphide, George Balanchine’s Serenade,A Sigh of Love,  The Last Mission of Marco Polo and more.

In 2006, when she was only 21 years old, she was selected as the principal dancer in ballet "A Sigh of Love" by the choreographer Bertrand d’AT, who was the co-director of the Ballet Cullberg and director of the  Ballet du Rhin, which premiered at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on September 2, 2006.