Seoul City Ballet Company Inaugural Pre-Performance 'Festival of Spring'

From the 26th to the 28th at Sejong Center M Theater

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts will present the Seoul City Ballet's pre-launch performance "The Rite of Spring" at Sejong M Theater from the 26th to the 28th.

Before the official inaugural performance in August, "The Rite of Spring" will be a triple bill consisting of three works. Choreographers An Seong-su, Yoo Hoe-woong, and Lee Ruda will showcase contemporary ballet pieces. The Seoul City Ballet is the third public ballet company established in Korea after the National Ballet in 1962 and the Gwangju City Ballet in 1976, founded after 48 years. Unlike existing ballet companies that focus on classical works, it plans to perform contemporary ballet pieces that reflect the sensibilities of the times and Korean originality.

Dancer An Seong-su will present "ROSE," choreographer Yoo Hoe-woong will present "NO MORE," and choreographer Lee Ruda will present "Bolero 24."

"ROSE" is a restructured work based on the choreography framework of "Rose - The Rite of Spring," which An Seong-su originally premiered in 2009. It is expected to show faster and more dynamic movements and composition than the previous work.

"NO MORE" is a new piece being premiered for the first time in this performance. It expresses "our story," including the repetitive daily life of modern society and the fatigue and lethargy felt by young people. It depicts the moment of boldly moving forward toward the world through the energy of art and dance in a life accustomed to giving up. Dancers will unleash powerful movements to the fast beats of live drums and electronic music. Choreographer Yoo Hoe-woong explained, "We tried to break away from the standardized ballet movements by combining the heartbeat we feel every day and the busy pace of daily life with the drum beats." Ballerino Nam Yoon-seung will wear pointe shoes, a symbol of ballerinas, on stage to show a unique charm.

"Bolero 24" is a restructured work based on "Black Bolero," which won the Korean Ballet Association's Work of the Year award last year, tailored to the founding purpose of the Seoul City Ballet. The dancers will perform ballet movements that approach unbalanced body forms and deconstructive styles to the music of "Bolero" composed by Maurice Ravel. Through this, they express a struggle against space, time, and gravity.

The performance title "The Rite of Spring" is taken from the ballet music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882?1971), which premiered in 1913. The legendary Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (1890?1950) choreographed it, and its premiere in 1913 received tremendous boos from the audience due to its radical and complex music and choreography. However, today it is recognized as a masterpiece that greatly influenced Western music history.

Regarding the reason for choosing the title "The Rite of Spring," Sejong Center for the Performing Arts explained, "It embodies the seasonality of spring, the meaning of 'rite' as an ancient ritual, primal energy, and the symbolism of Stravinsky and Nijinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' works, which each shook their respective eras as music and ballet pieces."

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