Wise Ballet Theater’s “Venice Carnival.” (image: Wise Ballet Theater)
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — With changing trends, the South Korean public no longer has to be feel objection to ballet as a luxurious Western art.
Recently, ballet has been reborn into colorful variation within the mass media and the public no longer feels a psychological distance to the art of ballet.
There are even ballet performances where the dancers actively communicate with the audience by stepping down from the high stage.
KBS2 began airing the fantasy romance drama “Angel’s Last Mission: Love” featuring ballerinas from May 22.
“Angel’s Last Mission: Love”, South Korea’s first ballet drama, has called upon the Seoul Ballet Theater to act as an advisory panel and will also feature dancers.
Choi Jin-soo, head of the Seoul Ballet Theater, reported that ballet education used to be focused on college entrance exams, but ballet is now in the process of expanding into a culture that the public can enjoy in their everyday lives.
He also added that ballet is a full-body workout that uses all the muscles of the body but looks elegant on the outside.
Choi is confident that once the public experiences the beauty of ballet, they will fall in love with such conflicting charm.
Seoul Ballet Theater’s “BEING.” (image: Seoul Ballet Theater)
Ballet is also becoming a popular subject matter in the webtoon and musical industries. On the portal site Daum, the webtoon “Navillera” was published as one of the most popular series from July 2016 to November 2017.
In addition to the media exposure, there are also many efforts to lower the threshold for access to ballet. However, the key is ticket prices.
The “Sharing Talent Program”, a collaborative group of six private organizations, held a joint performance in 2012 and released a program that allows people to enjoy modern ballet to classical ballet for 20,000 to 30,000 won.
The Suwon Ballet Festival, which is held in Suwon since 2015, is free of charge.
The festival, which is performed on an outdoor lawn to blur the line between stage and audience, has become a landmark of Suwon. It is an attempt to break the prejudice of “ballet enjoyed only by the rich.”
The ballet education business is also active. The Korean National Ballet, led by artistic director Kang Sue-jin, has been operating an annex academy since 1993.
Every three months, 30 students can apply for each class, and all the classes are always full.
In addition, the Gwangju City Ballet, led by its head Choi Tae-ji, has been trying various programs, including ballet classes that combine ballet and fitness, as well as classical ballet classes.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
