The National Ballet's First Planned Performance of the Year... Showcasing 7 Works from the Choreographer Development Project

August 1-2 at the Seoul Arts Center CJ Towol Theater

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The National Ballet Company will perform its first planned show of the year, "History of KNB Movement Series," at the CJ Towol Theater in the Seoul Arts Center on August 1-2.

The performance will showcase seven selected works choreographed by National Ballet Company members, presented through the company's choreographer development project "KNB Movement Series" over the past five years. Since 2015, the National Ballet Company has presented 35 works across 10 KNB Movement Series performances through last year. Nineteen choreographers have participated up to last year, and among them, Song Jeong-bin, Park Seul-gi, Kim Na-yeon, Shin Seung-won, Park Na-ri, Lee Young-cheol, and Kang Hyo-hyung have been selected as choreographers to shine on this stage.

Among the seven works, "Amadeus Concerto" choreographed by Song Jeong-bin, "Go Your Own Way" by Shin Seung-won, "Almond" by Kim Na-yeon, and "Season; Spring" by Lee Young-cheol were performed in last year's KNB Movement Series.

"Amadeus Concerto" is a work that stands out for its choreography of five couples flowing seamlessly over the lively and beautiful melody of the first movement Allegro of Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor." "Go Your Own Way" is inspired by a phrase left by French writer Paul Val?ry: "If you do not live as you think, soon you will think as you live." Naturally inhaling and exhaling, two dancers connect their movements and breaths, leaving an impression of struggling toward somewhere.

Kim Na-yeon's "Almond" draws its motif from the novel of the same name by author Sohn Won-pyung, gifted to her by an acquaintance. The work begins with a calm piano melody and a light bulb illuminating alone on a dark stage, capturing the audience's attention. "Season; Spring" expresses Lee Young-cheol's feelings of beauty and wistfulness upon seeing spring petals falling by the roadside. Gayageum player and singer-songwriter Joo Bo-ra, who has a calm and clear voice, performs both gayageum music and singing together on stage.

Park Seul-gi, the National Ballet Company's leading dancer, presented her first choreographic work "Quartet of the Soul" in the 2016 KNB Movement Series. Using the music of Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine composer known as the "father of tango," four dancers become instruments, expressing the loneliness and sensuality unique to tango music.

Park Na-ri's "Ogamdo" and Kang Hyo-hyung's "Yodongchida" were works presented in 2015. Both pieces deal with Korean themes and use ballet as a foundation, incorporating arm movements and breathing techniques in dance, along with fusion gugak (traditional Korean music).

"Ogamdo" is a work inspired by the poem "Ogamdo" by Yi Sang, expressing the deeply rooted emotions of "han" (a Korean concept of sorrow) and "fear" in our hearts through the whole body. "Yodongchida" by Kang Hyo-hyung uses music from the percussion group Puri to express the turbulent emotions within us through irregular percussion rhythms and the intense dance movements of seven female dancers. "Yodongchida" was invited to the Stuttgart Ballet's "Next Generation" in Germany in 2016, and Kang Hyo-hyung was nominated for the choreographer category of the "Benois de la Danse," known as the Academy Awards of dance, in 2017. Kang Hyo-hyung began his full-scale choreographic career with "Yodongchida," presented his first full-length work "Heo Nanseolheon - Suwol Gyeonghwa" (2017) at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics celebration, and choreographed the National Ballet Company's new work "Hoi Rang" last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.