Korean dancers active in the world's leading ballet companies will take Korean stages one after another this summer. Dancers performing as principals at top-tier companies in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia will meet domestic audiences through a variety of works, including gala performances, full-length ballets and contemporary pieces. As the standing of K-ballet has risen, a spectacular festival of dance is set to unfold, offering a chance to see in one place the skills and diverse repertoires the dancers have built abroad.
At "Gala with Overseas Ballet Stars," to be held June 12 at Doam Hall of Seoul Arts Center, Kim Dan-bi of the Houston Ballet in the United States and Yeom Da-yeon, active in Germany, will take the stage. Yeom Da-yeon and Kim Si-jin (Tulsa Ballet) will perform the Don Quixote pas de deux, while Kim Dan-bi and Yang Jun-young (Korean National Ballet) will present the Black Swan pas de deux. Kang Hye-ji, a soloist at the Polish National Ballet, and Kim Ha-eun, a full-scholarship student at the ABT Ballet Academy, will also perform.
On June 29 at the Grand Theater of the Eumseong Culture and Arts Center, and on August 1-2 at the Grand Performance Hall of Naru Art Center in Seoul, the "23rd Invitational Performance of Overseas Dance Stars Who Shine for Korea" will be held. In particular, Yoon Seo-hoo, who has been active at the Paris Opera Ballet in France for 10 years, is drawing attention as he takes the stage in his homeland for the first time since going abroad. Together with his partner Max Darlington, he will present the grand pas de deux from Rudolf Nureyev's choreography of "Raymonda" and the Korean premiere of Samuel Murez's "Chaconne." Jung Seo-hyun of Germany's Dresden Semperoper Ballet will perform, with Moises Carada Palmeros, the pas de deux from Heo Yong-soon's "Anna Karenina" and the world premiere of "One + One." Choi Su-jung, a lead dancer at the Leipzig Ballet, will give the Korean premiere of the Adam and Eve pas de deux from Uwe Scholz's "The Creation" and "Souvenir."
Among this summer's most anticipated stages, one cannot leave out the performance by Park Sae-eun, an étoile (principal dancer) of the Paris Opera Ballet. For several years, she has led top-tier étoiles from around the world in visits to Korea for summer gala shows. This year, she will again present "Étoiles of Our Time" at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center a total of four times on July 29-30 and August 1-2.
This stage is composed of a diverse program ranging from classics to a new world premiere and contemporary works. She will perform "Clair de Lune," a world premiere created by choreographer Jean-Guillaume Bart with Park Sae-eun as its motif, to the melodies of Debussy. She is set to captivate audiences with a dazzling repertoire including French traditional classics such as Rudolf Nureyev's version of "Romeo and Juliet," Roland Petit's intense modern work "Carmen," as well as Nureyev's "Swan Lake" and Jean-Christophe Maillot's "The Nutcracker."
In August, Korean dancers belonging to overseas ballet companies will join domestic ballet company performances one after another. In "Death and the Maiden," which the Seoul Metropolitan Ballet will stage August 14-16 at the Haeoreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea, Kang Hyo-jung, principal of the Dresden Semperoper Ballet, Lee Sang-eun, lead principal of the English National Ballet, and Lim Su-jung, soloist of the Zurich Ballet, will make guest and special appearances. Presented as a double bill, this performance stages Christian Spuck's "The Seventh Blue" and Alexander Ekman's "Cacti," both based on Schubert's "Death and the Maiden," on one stage.
Kang Hyo-jung will display her characteristic lyrical movement in "The Seventh Blue," while Lee Sang-eun, the "tall ballerina," will lead the "Cacti" stage based on her own performing experience. Another notable feature is that the Seoul Metropolitan Ballet's first live string quartet performance accompanies the show.
At the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center from August 14 to 23, the Universal Ballet's "Swan Lake" will be performed a total of 11 times. It was a box-office hit that recorded a 95.6% occupancy rate last year, and this year the appearance of Jeon Min-chul, a first soloist at the Mariinsky Ballet, is drawing attention. Jeon Min-chul will play Prince Siegfried alongside Hong Hyang-gi on August 16 and 19. A graduate of the Universal Ballet's Julia Ballet Academy, he was chosen as a lead in major works such as "Romeo and Juliet," "La Bayadère" and "Giselle" just a year after joining the Mariinsky Ballet last year, rapidly growing his presence on the world stage. This "Swan Lake" is his third full-length performance with Hong Hyang-gi. In addition, Universal Ballet principals including Lee Yu-rim and Lim Seon-woo, Elizaveta Cheprasova and Lee Hyun-jun, Seo Hye-won and Yoo Ju-hyung, and Jeon Yeo-jin and Lee Seung-min will appear together, presenting diverse interpretations across six couples in all. The Korean National Symphony Orchestra will provide live accompaniment under the baton of Kim Sung-jin.
