Official Launch of Seoul Ballet Company... First Performance of 'Spring Festival' in April

Gwangju City Ballet Company Launches First Public Ballet Company in 48 Years
Contemporary Ballet Company... Inaugural Performance 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Seoul City Ballet, the third public ballet company in Korea, was officially founded on the 20th. The establishment of a public ballet company in Korea comes 48 years after the National Ballet of Korea in 1962 and the Gwangju City Ballet in 1976.

Seoul City Ballet aims to differentiate itself by positioning as a contemporary ballet company. Unlike existing ballet companies that mainly perform classical works such as "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker," it plans to primarily stage choreographers' original works that reflect contemporary themes.

On the 20th, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and Seoul City held a press conference at the Sejong Center’s Arts Building comprehensive rehearsal room to officially announce the founding of Seoul City Ballet.

An Ho-sang, president of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, said, "The National Ballet of Korea and Universal Ballet focus on classical ballet, and we thought it would be excessive for us to also do classical ballet. We will focus on contemporary works, introduce a repertoire, and broaden the base of ballet."

From the left: dancer Hyoseon Park, dancer Yunseung Nam, dancer Jinho Won, dancer Sohe Kim, Mayor Sehoon Oh, choreographer Seongsu Ahn, CEO Hosang Ahn, dancer Heehyun Kim, choreographer Ruda Lee, choreographer Hoewoong Yoo
[Photo by Sejong Center for the Performing Arts]

Seoul City Ballet plans to present three performances this year. First, in April, as a pre-founding performance, they will stage "The Rite of Spring" (choreographed by An Sung-soo, Yoo Hwe-woong, and Lee Ruda). The three choreographers will present a triple bill.

In August, the founding performance "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be staged. Ju Jae-man, a Korean-American choreographer actively working on the global stage, will serve as the general director and choreographer. Lastly, a double bill performance is scheduled for October.

Seoul City and Sejong Center for the Performing Arts began actively promoting the establishment of Seoul City Ballet in September last year.

Initially, the operation of the ballet company will be managed by Sejong Center, which has expertise in managing arts groups and producing performances. In the long term, they plan to establish an independent foundation by developing a production system and operational base for the arts group.

Rehearsal rooms and other facilities, as well as office space, are expected to be set up around September at the multipurpose hall "Sup" on Nodeul Island in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Until then, the comprehensive rehearsal room in the Arts Building of Sejong Center will be used.

Unlike public arts groups operated with a director and tenured members, Seoul City Ballet will operate as a production system without a director or fixed members. This is intended to allow flexible operation centered on diverse works.

Each season, selected season dancers and project dancers will participate in performances, and about 200 Korean dancers active on the global stage will be invited as guest dancers.

For the inaugural 2024 season, five season dancers?Kim So-hye, Kim Hee-hyun, Nam Yoon-seung, Park Hyo-seon, and Won Jin-ho?were selected. They will perform in all productions of the 2024 season. Seventeen project dancers were selected for individual performances. Additional season dancer selections are expected around September.

The budget allocated to Seoul City Ballet this year is 2.6 billion KRW, including production and personnel costs. This is slightly lower than the budgets of other arts groups under Sejong Center, such as the Seoul City Choir and Seoul City Musical Company.

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