Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo principal dancer An Jae-yong focuses on expressing emotions

Classical dance form strives to appeal to broader public

Ballerina Kim Joo-won will introduce her new work “Tango Ballet 3 Minutes: Su Tiempo” at the Sejong Center July 11-14. Kim’s latest piece follows “Marguerite and Armand,” staged in 2013. Ballerina Kim Joo-won (Sejong Center) The tango-style ballet, choreographed by Rye Hoi-woong, tells a love story in just about three minutes. Starring alongside Kim are Korean National Ballet principal dancer ...

A musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic “The Merchant of Venice” is being staged until June 16 at the M Theater of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. The Korean-language production is directed by Park Geun-hyung and performed by the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theater. The piece follows the original storyline of the 16th century play, which takes off after Bassanio seeks a larg...

Canadian theater artist, director and actor Robert Lepage is presenting the production “887” for the first time in Seoul. The piece sheds light on the Quebec separatist movement from his own experience of living as a member of a Francophone family. The production is a work of “autofiction,” Lepage said during a press conference Monday at the Embassy of Canada to Korea. “887” runs between Wednesd...

The largest musical festival in Korea is winding up for opening next month, with the organizers for Daegu International Musical Festival on Tuesday announcing that this year’s event will feature 23 musicals from eight countries. From June 21 to July 8, the 13th annual DIMF will be held at major theaters across Daegu. Set in the self-proclaimed “musical city,” the DIMF will be promoted by Suho of...

The 2019 Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival kicks off Friday with Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s “Macbeth: Who Is That Bloodied Man?” Starting with the Polish theater company’s reinvention of “Macbeth” on Friday, the 18th UMTF will feature some 40 productions from May 10-19, coming to a close with Geoff Sobelle’s “Home.” A scene from Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s “Macbeth: Who Is That Bloodied Man?” (Tomasz Plask...

“Fuerza Bruta Wayra” is back in Seoul with a few changes and upgrades after a successful run last year. The 70- to 80-minute show features eye-catching acrobatics, heart-thumping sounds, multicolored lights and projections, as well as wind machines. A scene titled “Corredor” in “Fuerza Bruta Wayra” (Fuerza Bruta) “Salto” is a new segment in the scene titled “Corredor.” /Fuerza Bruta The show ...

The world premiere of Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s “Asylum” will open the 38th International Modern Dance Festival (MODAFE) at Arko Arts Theater on May 16. The Israel-based dance company’s most recent work, “Asylum,” which touches on the on-going issues of refugees, immigration, and asylum seekers. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors in 1957, artistic director Rami Be’er has transla...

Opera companies pledge to correct wage exploitation problem

Two lovers destined for each other is a popular cliche in the romance genre. The phrase “and they lived happily ever after” is the stock ending. The first-ever theater adaptation of Belgian writer Amelie Nothomb’s novel “Riquet a la houppe” (“Riquet with the Tuft”), a Seoul Arts Center production that runs there through May 19, features a man and a woman destined to meet, but it leaves out the d...

Ballerino An Jae-yong credits success at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo to hard work, director Maillot

Doosan Art Center kicks off Doosan Humanities Theater 2019, ‘Apartment Nation’

The hit musical “School of Rock” will be performed in Korea in its original language for the first time in June, as part of the first leg of the show’s international tour. Based on the 2003 comedy music film of the same name starring Jack Black, the musical features the original score from Andrew Lloyd Webber and follows out-of-work musician Dewey Finn on his quest to turn students of a prestigi...

The five-day Francophone Festival, organized by the Korean International Theatre & Arts Company, kicked off its inaugural edition in Seoul on Wednesday. “The festival’s first edition in Seoul hopes to celebrate the cultural diversity that spans the French-speaking countries. It also hopes to promote the French language and also strengthen ties between the two nations, France and Korea,” said Pat...