Tang Xiuyun, graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1960 and stayed on as a teacher. At the same time, she participated in nearly all the performances of the Experimental Ballet of the Academy (the precursor of the National Ballet of China), such as Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Notre Dame de Paris, etc. She has toured with the ballet company in Myanmar as well as cities in China like Harbin, Kunming, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places.

In May 1970, she joined the National Ballet of China as a ballet dancer and répétiteur, where she danced "Qionghua" in The Red Detachment of Women, "The White Haired Girl" in White Haired Girl, and other roles successively. She also participated in the choreography of Ode to Yimeng and has toured with the Company in Austria and West Berlin.

In 1978, she Beijing Dance Academy and worked as senior lecturer, professor and deputy director of Ballet Department successively. During this period, she was invited to work as guest teacher in British Royal Ballet School and Australian Ballet School. In 1993, she went to Australian Ballet School as a ballet teacher. From 2000 to 2007, she was employed by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Hong Kong Ballet as the resident guest répétiteur.