Xiaoxiao Cao is making her name in the world of ballet, Broadway, and business. Now performing in Phantom of the Opera, the classically trained ballerina also runs Xiaoxiao Designs, a New York-based dancewear company worn world-famous ballerina Marianela Núñez, as well as professional dancers and students around the globe.
  Hailing from China, Xiaoxiao began training at the age of 10, joined the Guangzhou Ballet at 16, moved to New York at 22, and launched Xiaoxiao Designs at 25. Inspired by the paintings of Edgar Degas, Xiaoxiao creates glamorous fin de siècle looks that filled with all of the romance, drama, and spectacle of the theater. Xiaoxiao’s intuitive understanding of dancewear comes from her work on the stage and in the studio. “I think of every class and rehearsal as my performance,” Xiaoxiao explains. She designs to inspire dancers to feel beautiful and distinct, providing a wide array of colors, styles, and materials to create sophisticated, elegant, glamorous looks. Xiaoxiao's signature motifs include regal bows, resplendent ribbons, lush velvets, and graceful lace combined with breathtaking cutouts, striking necklines, rippling ruffles, and light corsetry.
  Today, as a member of the Phantom chorus, Xiaoxiao performs as a ballerina at the Paris Opera, donning costumes inspired by Degas and continuing to create new designs for her line. Xiaoxiao Designs is a family affair; she closely collaborates with her parents, who work as agents for clothing manufacturing factories in China and provide the best quality production of her designs.

  Xiaoxiao is bridging the divide between the East and the West not only in design but also on Broadway as the first dancer from mainland China in Phantom’s 32-year run. She was featured in Playbill as one of the 20 members of the Asian diaspora currently in a Broadway ensemble. It’s a life she never would have imagined while dancing at the Guangzhou Ballet.