Kim emerges as Swan Queen in ballet fest

By Lee Hyo-won

Nimble pointed footwork dominated the weekend arts scene with the opening of a ballet festival Sunday, the same day the Universal Ballet Theater’s striking Jiri Kylian showcase came to an end.

Kim Ji-young, recently returned from performing in Italy, emerged as a ravishing Swan Queen in the Korea National Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” the opening performance of the 1st Ballet Festival Korea.

The performance saw a marked improvement in the company’s interpretation of the Bolshoi piece that was staged here last December (organizers of the government-backed event said they had no choice but to do reruns due to limited prep time).

Yet the leaps and bounds with which Kim harnessed her artistry were beyond expectation.

The ballerina was still excruciatingly thin from being ill around the time she starred in the company’s sellout “Giselle” earlier this year, and was no doubt even more enervated from pulling off the lead in Luciano Cannito’s “Cinderella” in Palermo several weeks ago.

Yet Kim, a former member of the Dutch National Ballet, was a quiet tour de force as the White Swan, as her expressive use of the upper body and beautifully arched torso brought a lyrical style true to her Russian training. As the Black Swan, she gave pronounced form to the classical dance in the seduction scene.

Her partner, Jung Young-jae, who returned from performing in Tartarstan, Russia, was up to par with his usual dynamic poise, allowing the ballerina to shine. Kim Li-hoe and Park Seul-gi, two rising starlets, showed off their elongated silhouettes for the pas de trois. But the experimental casting left room for many inconsistencies in the famous sequence.

Though it was once again the Soviet-era version featuring a rather anticlimactic happy ending, Kim and the company drew a lengthy standing ovation, a rare instance in local ballet performances. Among those in the audience were Chung Byoung-gug, minister of culture, sports and tourism, and Seo Kang-soo, director of the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS).

The overall production nevertheless saw an impressive improvement; the corps de ballet was surprisingly in sync, while the Korean Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Koo Jah-bom, actually kept to the score most of the time, though the crescendos sometimes saw a rather bipolar treatment, going from quiet to boomingly loud.

The Ballet Festival Korea continues through June 28 at the Seoul Arts Center. For more information call (02) 587-6181 or visit www.kballet.org.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr