Julia Moon, Universal Ballet over 30 years: Leap of Korean Ballet

“I was 21 years old at the time. I cannot believe it. This building, the Universal Ballet Company, did not even exit at the time.”

“We just started the ballet in a practice room in the back of this Sunhwa Arts school.”

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Universal Ballet Company this year, Julia Moon, 51, the head of UBC, shared her memory of the company first being established in 1984. At the time, Korea had only two ballet companies; Korean National Ballet (1962) and Gwangju City Ballet (1976). This is the reason why people in the ballet field paid more attention to the founding of UBC.

Even though amateurs like printing staff members and actors from Sunhwa Art School were on the stage due to the lack of male dancers, people praised for the unconventional dance choreography and stage performance. “Thinking back, we had low standards with a shortage of costumes. However, people paid so much attention. Especially, we made a path for some dancers to be professional rather than going to a good university.”

She also shared the performing experience of “Cinderella” as a principal dancer. “Cinderella has to go back home at 12 o’clock. As soon as a male dancer grabbed my hand while I was hurrying, I was suddenly blushing. So I ran away and hid in the locker room