Korean National Ballet

Korean National Ballet’s version of Le Corsaire offers a good way into the history of the company. Song Jungbin is listed among its soloists as well as among its choreographers. The ensemble’s own version of the ballet dates from 2020. In August 2026 it took Le Corsaire to Astana, and in November it is scheduled to take a version with commentary to Jecheon. A ballet that travels abroad as part of a cultural exchange can also be an introduction to the art form for audiences elsewhere in Korea. Both uses grow out of the same investment in a work that dancers can return to.

Founded in 1962, Korean National Ballet identifies itself as Korea’s first professional ballet company. It began within the National Dance Company and became a separate ensemble in 1972. Its home today is at Seoul Arts Center. A substantial part of the repertory is identifiable by production as well as by title. The company’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker are associated with Yuri Grigorovich. Its Giselle is Patrice Bart’s version. Those distinctions let a viewer follow the decisions of a particular choreographer even when the score and the outline of the story are already familiar.

The company also gives its dancers room to make choreography of their own. In July 2026 its KNB Movement Series reached its tenth edition. Earlier in the year the dancers had put two very different contemporary ballets on the same programme, Wayne McGregor’s Infra and Glen Tetley’s The Rite of Spring. Infra was new to the company. The Tetley staging marked the centenary of its choreographer’s birth. Together, those events show that expanding a repertoire can mean introducing an existing work to a new ensemble, returning to a twentieth-century choreographer or asking a dancer to make a piece for colleagues.

Kim Joowon became the eighth General and Artistic Director on 6 August 2026. The company’s staff page also gives her title as Artistic Director & CEO. A graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she joined KNB in 1998, danced as a principal and received a Benois de la Danse award in 2006. Her return to the institution follows work in teaching and festival direction. She knows the company from the stage as well as from the director’s office.

The next Seoul production is John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias, scheduled for 10–15 November. The Nutcracker follows in December, with dates in Daegu as well as Seoul. KNB publishes a calendar-year programme. These dates describe the confirmed closing months of 2026 and leave room for the company to announce its 2027 plans in its own time.