Kang Sujin To Step Down as Korean National Ballet Director in April After 12 Years

Kang Sujin, who has led the Korean National Ballet for 12 years as its 7th Director and Artistic Director, will step down on April 4.

The Korean National Ballet announced on the 26th that Director Kang will retire and that she is scheduled to teach the next generation of dancers at Seoul Cyber University.

Kang Sujin, Director and Artistic Director of the Korean National Ballet. Korean National Ballet

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Kang joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1986 at the age of 18 as its youngest-ever member and went on to build a career as a world-renowned ballerina. In 1999, she became the first Korean to be selected as Best Female Dancer at the Prix Benois de la Danse, often called the "Academy Awards of the dance world." In 2014, she was appointed to succeed former Korean National Ballet Artistic Director Choi Taeji.

During her tenure, Artistic Director Kang Sujin focused on solidifying the artistic identity of the Korean National Ballet, systematizing its creative foundation, and expanding its international stature.

In 2015, she launched the choreographer development project "Korean National Ballet (KNB) Movement Series" to strengthen the company’s in-house creative capacity. Through the KNB Movement Series, a total of 25 choreographers have presented 65 works over the past 10 years. Kang Hyo-hyung’s "Turbulence" (2015), created for Movement Series 1, achieved notable recognition when it was nominated in 2017 for the choreographer category at the Prix Benois de la Danse.

Artistic Director Kang Sujin also worked to expand the Korean National Ballet’s repertoire landscape by strategically introducing a wide range of overseas works spanning classical, neoclassical, modern, and dramatic ballet.

In 2015, by securing the Asian premiere performance rights to John Cranko’s "The Taming of the Shrew," she laid the groundwork for expanding the company’s global repertoire. She subsequently introduced Marcia Hayd?e’s "The Sleeping Beauty" (2016), George Balanchine’s neoclassical masterpiece "Jewels" (2021), William Forsythe’s representative modern ballet "Artifact II" (2022), and Ji?? Kyli?n’s "Forgotten Land" (2018) and "Falling Angels" (scheduled for 2025). In particular, last year she set a new milestone for the Korean ballet scene by staging the first full-length Asian production of "The Lady of the Camellias" by John Neumeier, a master choreographer of dramatic ballet. In May this year, the company will present the Korean premiere of Wayne McGregor’s "INFRA."

Artistic Director Kang Sujin also focused on strengthening the organizational foundation of the Korean National Ballet. During her tenure, she gradually increased the number of company members, and in particular expanded the permanent staff positions, which had seen little change for a long time, by 28.75% (including increases scheduled for 2026), thereby enhancing employment stability.

The Korean National Ballet’s patrons association was also systematically overhauled in terms of membership tiers and operating system, establishing a stable private sponsorship base. The number of patron members, which stood at 40 in 2014, had grown to about 100 last year, an increase of nearly 2.5 times, while sponsorship income expanded from around 50 million won in 2014 to approximately 430 million won last year, nearly a tenfold increase.

Artistic Director Kang Sujin said, "The past 12 years were once again a passionate and happy time in my life. I am filled only with gratitude for every moment I shared with the Korean National Ballet, and for the company members and audiences who believed in me and supported me. Now I will conclude my role as director and devote myself to being a mentor for future generations, repaying the support I have received as an artist."

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