Kim Ki-min, Jeon Min-cheol, Park Sun-mi to share stage at K-Arts Dance School's 30th anniversary gala

"Korean dancers have outstanding fundamentals. But I think it is time to go beyond the fundamentals and truly dance."

Those were the words of Kim Ki-min, the world-renowned ballet dancer who became the first Asian principal at Russia's Mariinsky Ballet. A 13th-cohort graduate of the Korea National University of Arts Dance School — known as K-Arts — which opened in March 1996 to reshape the landscape of practical dance education in Korea, Kim has carved out his own legacy on the global stage, making his remarks all the more resonant.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday at a press conference at K-Arts' Seocho-gu campus in Seoul to mark the dance school's 30th anniversary, Kim said dancers from Russia, the United States and France are invariably stunned when they see the level of training Korean dancers receive.

Where university dance programs once focused narrowly on practical technique, K-Arts built a system from the outset that combined specialized technical training with coursework in choreography and theory, all oriented toward international competitiveness.

The results have been borne out in an unparalleled string of achievements since the 2000s — top prizes at the world's most prestigious competitions and placements in leading dance companies abroad. Alumni are now fixtures at the Mariinsky Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet and Monte Carlo Ballet, among others. Kim noted that Korean dancers "achieve outstanding results overseas — at competitions — thanks to their solid fundamentals."

Na Gyeong-a, dean of the K-Arts Dance School, reflected on the past three decades, saying the school's founding "ushered in an era where Korean dancers with internationally competitive skills could perform across the world." She added: "Before 2000, this kind of reality was beyond imagination."

Dancers who have made their mark on the world stage consistently point to two defining features of a K-Arts education: an uncompromising grounding in fundamentals and an environment that dissolves the boundaries between disciplines.

Cho Ju-hyun, a professor in the practical studies department specializing in ballet who reconstructed and choreographed key repertoire for the 30th anniversary performance, said graduates have been able to "bloom in such dazzling and varied ways because of the deep-rooted, rigorous educational foundation laid at K-Arts."

But the training goes well beyond technique. The school's distinctive strength lies in an educational environment where students from different majors — ballet, contemporary dance and Korean traditional dance — interact and learn from one another.

Jeon Seong-jae, a professor specializing in Korean traditional dance, said K-Arts was founded from the outset with the aim of breaking down and integrating the boundaries between ballet, contemporary and Korean dance. "We are continuously improving the curriculum so that students from different majors can keep meeting, clashing and building relationships and networks," he said. "Through that process, artists with fresher ideas and a stronger sense of agency will emerge."

The fruits of that approach are on vivid display in K-dance today. Over the past 30 years, K-Arts has produced a large number of world-class dancers. Yet observers note that the school still has a long way to go in nurturing original choreographers and developing new creative repertoire to match the talent it has cultivated.

Faculty members said developing great choreographers requires far more time and institutional support than training dancers. Professor Jeong Jae-hyeok explained that students must complete practical coursework before they can create, noting that even students in the choreography major take practical technique classes alongside their creative work. He said competitions that assess dancers are plentiful, but those that evaluate choreography are comparatively rare. "Because a choreographic work requires multiple dancers, the practical costs of producing and judging such work are enormous," he said.

Dean Na acknowledged these limitations and said support for choreographer development is urgently needed. "It takes far longer for a single choreographer to emerge. The dance school is only now passing through its 30-year youth," she said. "Look carefully and you will find many hidden, gem-like choreographers. Intensive support for independent artists growing in places out of the spotlight is urgently needed."

The K-Arts Dance School will present "RE: MOVE ERA," a 30th anniversary commemorative performance reflecting on three decades of achievement and laying out a vision for the future, at the Haeoreum Grand Theater of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul from Aug. 21 to 23. Returning to the National Theater where the school began, the performances go beyond a simple celebration — they bring together artists from every generation on a single stage, with current students and alumni performing side by side.

The opening night on Aug. 21 is themed "K-Arts Ballet: A Living Tradition" and will showcase the evolution of classical ballet. The first act features "K-Arts Conservatory 2026," in which professors Cho Ju-hyun and Kim Hyeon-ung reconstruct iconic repertoire from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cho said that while the 20th anniversary show took a gala format, the 30th was conceived differently — to convey that tradition does not stand still but evolves. "We want to bring to the stage the time we have spent expanding and honing contemporary capabilities on a foundation of rigorous fundamentals," she said.

Kim Ki-min, a principal dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet, will reconstruct and direct "Don Quixote Suite." He said: "We develop our fundamentals in order to make art — not to practice fundamentals for their own sake. It is time to break free from the framework of technique. Movement alone being beautiful is not enough. I reconstructed the choreography so that artistry and individuality can flourish on the basis of those fundamentals."

Joining Kim on stage will be a constellation of world-class alumni — Lee Eun-won (principal, Washington Ballet), Han Seong-u (soloist, ABT), Jeong Eun-yeong (principal, Korea National Ballet), Ahn Jae-yong (principal, Monte Carlo Ballet), Park Sun-mi (principal, ABT) and Jeon Min-cheol (first soloist, Mariinsky) — alongside current students and students from the Korea Arts Gifted Education Academy.

Aug. 22 will feature works exploring contemporary dance, cutting-edge technology and the essence of the body. Professor Shin Chang-ho will present "Symmetry," a piece that incorporates AI platform-based research into the creative process to examine the collision between the human and the posthuman. "I used various AI programs — ChatGPT, cloud tools, Suno and others — to show in practice how AI can be applied to artistic creation," he said. Professor Ahn Seong-su will present an expanded version of "Swing Again," a work that sold out its premiere run during his tenure as artistic director of the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, while Professor Jeon Seong-jae will stage "Doedollabon Naeil," a piece that strips away set design to focus on the essence of dance itself.

The final evening on Aug. 23 will be devoted to "Rediscovering K-Dance," a program illuminating the contemporary possibilities of Korean traditional dance. Professor Ahn Deok-gi's "Mom-euro 100 Nyeon," a piece tracing a century of Korean dance since the era of "new dance," will feature Kim Gyu-nyeon, who gained wide public recognition through Mnet's "Stage Fighter," a TV dance competition show, among others.

Professor Ahn said he is "exploring the limits and intersections of how far dance can expand as a popular art form within the broader sphere of K-culture." Professor Jeong Jae-hyeok's "Nol-eum Hang-Out" fuses the improvisational spirit of Dongnae Hak-chum, a traditional Korean crane dance, with Western Baroque music in a contemporary reinterpretation of Eastern and Western play.

During the run from Aug. 21 to 23, an exhibition tracing the dance school's 30-year journey will be held concurrently in the first-floor lobby of the Haeoreum Grand Theater. Earlier this year, the school hosted an online international academic seminar, "New Movements in Dance Studies," inviting scholars from Korea and abroad in May and June, and in July successfully concluded the "National University Student Exchange Arts Camp," which drew more than 200 participants from seven universities nationwide. An online digital gallery compiling the dance school's 30-year history and academic legacy is set to officially launch in December.

Dean Na said the 30th anniversary is "not simply a celebration of past achievements, but a gathering where artists from the many generations who have learned and grown at the dance school come together on one stage to envision the time ahead." She added: "We will not stop pushing toward the future, and we will continue to write new chapters in the history of K-dance."