react-and-d3-transitions.js

import React from 'react';

export default React.createClass({
    animate(nextProps) {

        const transition = d3
            .select(this.getDOMNode())
            .transition()
            .duration(500);

        Object.keys(nextProps).forEach(function(key) {
            transition
                .attr(key, nextProps[key]);
        });

    },

    componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
        this.animate(nextProps);
    },

    shouldComponentUpdate(nextProps, nextState) {
        return false;
    },

    render() {
        return (
            <circle {...this.props} />
        );
    }
});

You could go a little further for .attr/.style animation, but the concept is easy to understand