Ballet Dream Team to Go on Stage
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
World-class Korean ballet dancers based abroad and at home will come together for the fourth Korea World Dance Star Festival scheduled July 25-30.
Subtitled ``Sue-jin Kang With Friends,'' the biennial event features Kang, the principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, as artistic director. It is the first time that the 39-year-old internationally acclaimed ballerina has taken on the job.
The line-up offers the best of the Korean ballet circle, along with a few foreign dancers who will come with their Korean partners.
Kang, who became the first Asian dancer to be honored as ``Kammertanzerin'' (chamber dancer) by the German state government of Baden-Wurttemberg in March this year, selected stars and starlets for the programs ranging from classic pieces such as ``Romeo and Juliet'' and ``Onegin'' to contemporary ones such as Uwe Scholz' ``Ein Lindentraum'' and Wayne Eagling's ``Duet.''
Kim Ji-young, second soloist at the Dutch National Ballet, will dance with Tamas Nagy from the same company in ``Duet.'' Kim Seh-yun of the Zurich Ballet will stage the self-choreographed ``Beethoven Frieze,'' while Cha Jin-yeob with the Galili Dance in the Netherlands will perform Itzik Galili's ``Exile Within.''
Top ballet dancers who enjoy critical acclaim and popularity on home turf will also join the line-up. They include Kim Joo-won of the Korea National Ballet Company, who won last year's Benois de la Danse as well as younger stars such as Park Se-eun, who won the top prize at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland earlier this year.
The all-star program will hit the stage at the LG Arts Center in southern Seoul from July 25-27; the Nowon Art and Culture Center in northern Seoul on July 28; and the Gimhae Arts and Sports Center in South Gyeongsang Province on July 30. The repertoire will vary depending on the day, so check the programs at www.ipap.co.kr.