World-famous ballet companies to perform in Korea

World-famous ballet companies to perform in Korea. January. 03, 2017 07:11. by Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com. Korean ballet fans are so excited this year because world-famous ballet companies are coming to Korea.

One of the most outstanding is Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet. The ballet company will meet Korean fans in Swan Lake at the Seoul Performing Arts Center on Nov.9-12. It will be its first visit to Korea in five years since 2012.

Ballerino Kim Ki-min who won the 2016 Benois de la Danse, will take a leading role. The Seoul Concert Management, the host of the upcoming performance, said, "We signed a contract on condition that Kim would appear on the stage. Kim is likely to play a leading role."

“I was a little frustrated because we have performed only in Japan since I became a ballerino," Kim said in an interview last year. "If I could be on the stage in Korea, I would be more thrilled than any other stages.”

The Spanish National Dance Company, one of the best in the world, will perform in the LG Arts Center in Seoul on Nov 9-12. Since its establishment as a national classical ballet company in 1979, it expanded the scope from classical repertories to modern ballet. The ballet company gained global recognitions after Nacho Duato served as an artistic director from 1990 through 2010.

The Spanish ballet company will showcase “Carmen” choreographed by Johan Inger from Sweden. Inger won the Best Choreographer award in the 2016 Benois de la Danse with this piece, a new interpretation of Bizet’s Carmen.

Tanztheater Wuppertal, once led by Pina Bausch (1940-2009), the renowned performer of modern dance, will also visit Korea. It will show “Sweet Mambo,” which was choreographed by Bausch in 2008, at LG Arts Center in Seoul on March 24-27.

“Sweet Mambo” is a piece that Bausch made only for the dance company. As such, it reflects the characteristics of dancers who had worked with her and her affection for each dancer. It is a pleasant piece showing the happiness, sadness and pain of a relationship between lovers.