Originally from Qingdao, China, Xijun Fu began his professional ballet dance training at age 12 with the Beijing Dance Academy. He spent 20 years dancing professionally, including performing as a guest artist with Ballet de Santiago in Chile, and appearing in the PBS special Dance for Two Countries, filmed in China.

In 1994 Mr. Fu was asked to join the Lexington Ballet Company in Lexington, Kentucky, which he directed for three years. In 1998 he led an effort to maintain professional dance in Central Kentucky by co-founding Lexington’s professional ballet company, Kentucky Ballet Theatre.

Mr. Fu already had been dancing with his own ballet shoes, and professional dancers asked him about designing and making the same shoes for them. Using his background and expertise in dance, Mr. Fu and his wife, Fang Li, started producing and distributing their own ballet product line, Fuzi.

All the travel between China and the United States to finalize the changes in design has come to fruition in the quality and style of the Fuzis. As Mr. Fu says, “You must keep challenging yourself in order to stay in business.”