Shang-Jen Yuan started his ballet education in Vaganova Method from age ten to eighteen with Lanyang Dance Troupe and Imperial 11 Ballet. He graduated with a First-Class Honours degree in B.F.A. from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts [HKAPA] in 2009, majoring in ballet and choreography. During his study at the academy, Yuan was awarded several grants, including a dance fellowship in New York from the Asian Cultural Council, a scholarship from the Bolshoi Theatre to study at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in 2009, and the HKAPA Full-Scholarship for three consecutive years. In 2019 and 2022, Yuan received his bachelor's and master's degrees in dance pedagogy at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Austria.
Yuan has worked as a full-time dancer, soloist dancer, and principal dancer with the National Ballet of Portugal, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Bremerhaven Ballet in Germany, and TANZLIN.Z in Austria. During his professional dance career, he has collaborated with renowned choreographers internationally. He has participated in numerous famous dance pieces such as "Pearl," "Kathleen" by Ed Wubbe, "Beautiful Freak" by Marco Goecke, "Noite de Ronda" by Olga Roriz, "Enemy in the Figure" by William Forsythe, "Paganini Variations" by Christopher Hampson, "Boléro" by Maurice Béjart, "Milky Way" and "Legacy" by Lin Hwai Min, and so forth.
As a multimedia designer, Yuan has been awarded prizes for the following: "Connected" was awarded the "Special Awards for Chinese Dance Filmmakers" in the 4th Jumping Frames International Dance Video Competition in Hong Kong in 2010. "Outleap" was awarded the "Special Prize" in Ork-Kota Platform 4.0 in Budapest, Hungary, in 2013 and the "3rd Prize" in the Choreographic Captures in Munich, Germany, in 2014. "Deriva," Yuan's collaborative work with Portuguese choreographer Clara Andermatt and composer Bernardo Sassetti, was invited to attend the 24th Mediawave Festival in Hungary in 2014 and the 7th International Videoart Festival - Proyector in Madrid, Spain, in 2014.
Yuan's dance choreography, "The Mind," was awarded the "Choreographic Prize" in the National Creative Dance Competition in Taiwan in 2004.
In 2012 Yuan was invited by the Seoul International Dance Festival in Seoul, South Korea as a resident artist in choreography and dance teacher.
In October 2012, Yuan was invited by the 3rd Busan International Dance Market to present his choreography "Break."
In 2013 Yuan was invited by the Shin Dance Company in Busan, South Korea as a resident choreographer and guest teacher at the School of Dance, Pusan National University, South Korea.
In January 2013, Yuan was invited by the SzólóDuó International Dance Festival to present his choreography "Crack" in Budapest. Following this, in July 2013, he performed his choreography "Dialogue" at the New Choreographer Project organized by MeimageDance in Taipei and Tainan, Taiwan.
Yuan was invited in January 2015 by the Musica Viva to perform his choreography "Skimming Strings" in Die Glocke Bremen, Germany. In July 2015, he was invited by the Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition to present his choreographies at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China.
In 2016 Yuan was invited as a resident artist by the Seoul Dance Center, South Korea.
In 2016 Yuan's dance choreography, "Flickers of Serenity," was awarded the "Choreography Award" at the Korea International Modern Dance Competition in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2019 Yuan was invited as a guest teacher by the Beijing Dance Academy, China.
In December 2019, Yuan was invited by the International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City to present his choreography "Dialogue."
In 2021 Yuan was invited as a guest teacher, choreographer, and stage director with Boris Eifman as the artistic director at Boris Eifman Dance Academy and Children's Dance Theater in Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol Academic Russian Drama Theater named A. Lunacharsky, Russia.
In 2021 Yuan was invited to present his choreography "At the Edge of Perception" at the IX St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum.
In April 2022, Yuan was invited to present his choreography "At the Edge of Perception" at the Erste Ulmer Tanztheater-Benefizgala and the Internationale Ballettgala in Salzburg.
In July 2022, Yuan was invited by the Florence Dance Festival to present his choreographies "Longitudinal Drift" and "At the Edge of Perception."
In August 2022, Yuan was invited by the Royal Conservatoire The Hague in the Netherlands as one of the choreographers in its Dance Intensive & ChoreoComp Programme.
In September 2022, Yuan was invited by TAIKABOX in Finland as one of the resident artists of the Oulu Dance Hack 22b at Muotoilukeskus PROTO, Oulu, Finland.
In February 2023, Yuan was invited by Salzburger Landestheater in Austria to present his choreography, "The Path Shapes the Way I Walk," at the Internationale Ballettgala.
Since 2017 Yuan has been the executive director of the Dance Vision in Austria, a team devoted to the offering, creating, performing, and producing artistic, high-quality works from various ideas, having the mission to share these journeys of inspiration with society.
In 2022, Shang-Jen Yuan, in collaboration with Prof. Peter Breuer, the principal and artistic advisor of the Salzburg Ballet at the State Theatre of Salzburg, initiated the reconstruction of the Summer Dance Intensive Program at the Salzburg International Ballet Academy (SIBA) in Salzburg, Austria.