Choi So Bin Ballet to start 2019 with ‘Cinderella’

The Choi So Bin Ballet will highlight its 2017 production “Cinderella” at a show slated for Jan. 12 at the Yongin Poeun Art Hall in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

Based on one of the world’s most beloved folktales, the hourlong “Cinderella” is accompanied by the classical music of Johann and Josef Strauss with delightful choreography to match. The ballet is well-suited to young families, the ballet company added.

Leading the show is ballerina Choi So-bin, who is also the ballet company’s artistic director and a dance professor at Dankook University in Yongin. Choi and ballerina Jun Soo-been will share the lead role, while ballerinos Igor Kontarev and Lee Won-guk will play the prince. 

Choi So Bin Ballet is a local ballet company that endeavors to make its ballet performances accessible and relatable to contemporary audiences. Since it was established in 1999, it has put on over 30 shows a year both here and abroad.

Its 2013 collaboration with Ballet Manila at the Carmen International Friendship Gala at the Star Theater within the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay City is an example of a successful overseas performance.

The company’s repertoire includes the classics plus its own original works, such as “The Last Empress” -- a full-length ballet that earned the dance company the 2010 Korea Grand Prize for Dance, an award with presidential distinction.

The ballet company is composed of graduates of Dankook University’s dance department as well as guest dancers.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)