By Bae Jong-hyun
Intern
Choi Tae-ji, 50, the artistic director of the state-run Korea National Ballet Company, has been invited to become a judge for the upcoming Moscow International Ballet Competition.
The ballet troupe said Wednesday that as one member of the 15-juror panel Choi will attend the 11th "Olympics of Ballet" slated for June 10-20 at Bolshoi Theater in the Russian capital.
Inaugurated in 1969, the "quadrennial" festival is one of the three elite ballet events in the world along with Varna International Ballet Competition (1965) in Bulgaria and USA Competition (1979) in Jackson, Miss.
This is the second chance that Choi is to join the jury currently headed by 82-year-old renowned Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, following her participation in the event as the first Korean juror in 2001, according to the troupe.
Ballerino Kim Yong-gul and ballerina Kim Ju-won, both senior members of Korea National Ballet, won the bronze medal at the "Olympics" in 1997 and 2001, respectively.
Choi has been in charge of the ballet company since January, 2008, her return from a hiatus of more than six years after finishing her two terms of six years as its head in 2001. Before joining the group, she also headed the state-run Chongdong Theater in downtown Seoul for three and a half years.
Born as an ethnic Korean in Japan, Choi has "contributed outstandingly to making the ballet familiar to the Korean public with her brand-new program of 'Ballet with Commentary,'" a spokesman said.