By Park Ji-won
Korea s ballet companies have begun to reshuffle their personnel and relocate to cut costs as the lingering pandemic has threatened their survival.
The Universal Ballet, the first private ballet company in Korea, laid off 25 of its 75 members this year. Ballerina Choi Ji-won, one of its soloists, left the art troupe in April to join a three-year-old ballet company in China run by Harbin Grand Theatre. She will start performing there as a principal dancer in July.
The Seoul Ballet Theater, another private ballet company founded in 1995 aiming to come up with original choreographies, also downsized its from 35 to eight and relocated its office which had been at the Gwacheon Foundation for Arts and Culture center to save costs.