Ballerina teaches soldiers to dance

By Kim Hyo-jin

A ballerina meets a group of soldiers every Saturday to teach them ballet dancing.

Park Sun-woo, a 29-year-old ballerina in the graduate dance program at Sookmyung Women's University, established a ballet club for the Army’s 56th Infantry Division and has been teaching ballet to 30 soldiers since July.

She said she volunteered for the job hoping to help the soldiers heal both physically and mentally.

“While listening to a series of news reports about soldiers being beaten to death at military camps and of abused soldiers going on shooting rampages, I felt pain through my whole body and I wanted to do something about it,” Park said in an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.

With a strong belief in the healing effects of ballet, she knocked on the door of the Ministry of National Defense, asking if there was any way for her to teach ballet to soldiers who have faced troubling difficulties with military life.

The ministry told her that if she could find a military unit that would welcome her idea, then she could work on her plan.

Park was able to reach the 56th Infantry Division with help from her thesis advisor, Prof. Park In-ja. The commander of the division allows her to run a ballet club as a weekly activity for the soldiers.

The 30-member club includes 15 servicemen who needed special attention.

“It was of course difficult at first,” Park said, recounting a few months ago when she first tried to engage the soldiers through dancing.

“Some didn’t even make eye contact with me and just looked on the floor during the whole two hour session.”

After three months, though, she has noticed changes. “They look lively now,” she said. “They even come up to me and talk about personal things.”

She said that she spends a lot of time having conversations with the soldiers. Aside from learning ballet moves, they have taken the time to write letters of gratitude for all that they have in their daily lives.

“They even perform some difficult choreography now. Bonding among the members of the club helps them express themselves more naturally,” she added.

Park believes ballet is not just a form of dance that looks beautiful, but is also beneficial for the people who practice it.

“It’s a shame that ballet has not been popular with the public. I hope that more people have a chance to appreciate the healing effects of performing ballet,” she said. She is planning to look deeper into the educational effects of ballet during her doctoral program, and beyond.

Buoyed by her passion, the ballet club is now the most popular club of the 56th Infantry Division and more soldiers are expressing their hopes of joining the club. At the request of the division, she is considering changing her original plan and keeping the club going until next year.

“Next year, I’m thinking of performing with the soldiers on real stages,” she said.