CriticalDance Forum

<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><BR>...based on the old Korean tale of a young girl called Shim Chung who sacrifices herself on behalf of her blind father.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href="http://www.korea.net/koreanculture/dance/dance_3.html">Much more...</a> <P><BR>Has anyone seen this? <BR>

I liked SHIIM CHUNG very much. Universal Ballet brought THE SLEEPING BEAUTY and SHIM CHUNG to Chicago, two springs ago.<P>I saw both and SHIM CHUNG was the winner.<P>A very pretty, and new ballerina danced the lead in SHIM CHUNG. Her name is Seh-Yun Kim. Does anyone know of her progress?

I saw Universal Ballet maybe 3 or 4 years ago and again last year. The previous tour they brought “Swan Lake” and “Shim Chung” to the Luckman Theater at Cal State L.A. I only got to see the “Swan Lake,” which was OK but I remember that they had a lot of Swan competitors that season. I think the newspapers said that they had a different ending every night—one evening Siegfried and Odette tore off von Rothbart’s wing and lived happily ever after, another night they both threw themselves in the lake, another Odette threw herself in the lake but Siegfried lived on grieving, etc.<P>Last year they brought a fully realized “La Bayadere” and “Shim Chung” (I guess they don’t go anywhere without their “Shim Chung”) to the Dorothy Chandler at the L.A. Music Center. I felt kinda bad because they didn’t come anywhere to filling the Dorothy Chandler. And BTW their “Bayadere” was way better than their “Swan Lake.”<P>These were the first two C-D posts for me in the thread called, “Universal Ballet of Korea” <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000153.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000153.html</A> <P>In “Bayadere” Seh-Yun Kim danced Gamzatti one night and then Nikiya another. Wonderful. At the time I thought she’d make a great Aurora. Sun Hee Park was “Shim Chung” the night that I went.<BR>

Hi. I was just introduced to this forum. I am working at Universal Ballet in Seoul, Korea and I wanted to let you know about Seh-Yun Kim. <P>First of all, you can find basic information about her on our new homepage at <A HREF="http://www.universalballet.com" TARGET=_blank>www.universalballet.com</A>.<P>Right now, Seh-Yun is working hard together with Artem Shpilevsky, her Kirov-trained partner and Universal Ballet member, preparing for the premier of Romeo and Juliet in June during the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup Festival. Our Artistic Director, Oleg Vinogradov is busy choreographing the ballet now to the captivating Prokofiev score.<P><BR>[Azlan: Editing to make the web address linkable.]<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited February 18, 2002).]

Omigosh, they're performing for the World Cup Festival?! That's a big deal. Any chance, Katherine, that this performance will be televised or taped?<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited February 18, 2002).]

Here is some information on Shim Chung, I performed the role of the under water Sea Dragon King in the second act. The version that I performed in was very demanding,it required that the Pas de Deux, male solo, female solo, and coda was followed quickly by a second Pas de Deux.Also,the dress of the female lead was teal silk. The more recent versions have her in a white gown and the Pas de Deuxs are more spaced out on the program. In the story,the blind man's daughter jumps off of the pirate's boat bow into the ocean,and arrives at the bottom of the sea. Where, the sea dragon king welcomes her into his kingdom, and shows her the riches of the sea. He then asks her to stay with him and become his queen.But she asks him if she can be sent back up to find her blind father. Then the sea dragon king obeys her wishes and sends her back above the ocean bottom.

I saw the Universal Ballet in Giselle and Don Q at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London 2 years ago; I was impressed by the uniformity of the corps de ballet.<P>I am very interested to hear that Vinogradov is choreographing a new production of Romeo for the company. I remember Artem Shpilevsky, though I haven't seen him yet. He was a contemporary of the Kirov soloist Anton Korsakov in the Vaganova Academy before he joined the Universal Ballet.

There will definitely be from two to three local Korean TV stations present for filming and it will be aired in Korea, but at this point we haven't heard anything about it being shown internationally. Also we will definitely tape it ourselves for our video library.<P>Balletman, you gave a very accurate account of the story. Thank you for posting! Of course, it does leave us wondering over here who you are and when and where you danced with Universal Ballet. I looked for a hint in your profile, but there is nothing there to give us a clue.<P>We have been taking Shim Chung with us on tour especially to the States to acquaint more people with the beauty of traditional Korean dress and folklore.<BR>

Katherine, will the Universal Ballet tour London again in the near future? I've also sent you a private e-mail too, please check.

Hi Kevin,<P>I sent you an answer to your email a little while ago.<P>I haven't heard any discussion about London, but we are definitely planning a tour in Europe. I'll get back to you with something more definite soon.