The Shanghai Ballet was formally renamed in 1979 at the base of The White-haired Girl performing team. The White-haired Girl won the Gold Medal of the Best Classical Dance Works of the 20th Century in China, which helped establish the Shanghai Ballet’s predominant position in ballet circle in China.

Furthermore, the Shanghai Ballet has created and staged folk-styled ballet The Butterfly Lovers and A Sigh of Love (Bertrand d’At). Besides, the repertoire of the company includes Swan Lake (Derek Deane), Copperlia (Pierre Lacotte), La Sylphide (Jean-Paul Gravier), The Nutcracker (Tetsutaro Shimizu), Romeo and Juliet (Derek Deane), Serenade (George Balanchine) and modern piece The Imagination of Red, Fébrile, Now, Here and Conversation with Chopin. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Ballet has performed pas de deux from Classical Ballet La Fille Mal Gardee, Giselle, Don Quixote, La Corsair, Sleeping Beauty, La Esmeralda, Raymonda, etc.

Since its founding, many young dancers of the company have won total of 27 medals in various international dance competitions, and they also achieved good results in nationwide competitions. A team of current principal dancers such as FAN Xiaofeng,SUN Shenyi, JI Pingping, CHEN Zhenrong, YU Xiaowei, CHEN Yan are becoming mature in art and brilliant on stage, with rising dancers such as WU Husheng, WANG Ya’nan, DUAN Wenfei, ZHANG Yao growing to be the main stake of the new generation.

The Shanghai Ballet is active in cooperation and cultural exchange with the artists and companies both abroad and at home. The company not only tours nationwide but also has visited many countries and regions, including Japan, Korea, France, Canada, the U.S.A., Indonesia, New Zealand, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, etc.