🩰 May is the Month of Ballet! Korea Ballet Festival Opens & Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Visits - 2026.05.01 | Modern Dance / Ballet

Hello, fans! 🩰 Your Ballet Nerd is back this week with a bunch of heart-fluttering dance news! Now that it's May, it truly feels like a festival season. The weather is great, and there are so many reasons to run to the theater that my bank account won't survive 💸. Let's check out what legendary performances are waiting for us this week!

🌟 The 16th Korea Ballet Festival Finally Raises Its Curtain!

Yesterday, on May 1st, the 'Korea Ballet Festival' grandly opened at the Seoul Arts Center! ^[1] This year's festival is full of things to see. Especially, the creative ballet 'TALE OF TALES' directed by Jung Ku-ho, showcased for the first time in 14 years, is a must-see! It's like a comprehensive gift set that weaves together and reinterprets female characters from 4 classic masterpiece ballets like 'La Sylphide', 'Swan Lake', and 'Giselle' ^[1]. With former Korean National Ballet principal dancer Kim Ji-young and Universal Ballet principal dancer Kang Mi-sun appearing, isn't the casting insane? ^[1] Also, 'Ballet Arirang', directed by Park Hoon-kyu and choreographed by Choi Soo-jin and Lee Ru-da, is highly anticipated ^[5]. They say it will show a never-before-seen ballet by unraveling the concept of Arirang with electronic traditional Korean music and various Korean dance movements ^[5]. It's a chance to see the infinite expansion of K-Ballet right before your eyes, so don't miss it!

🦢 Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is Coming! An Unconventional 'Swan Lake'

Have you all heard the news that Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is visiting Korea? They will perform Artistic Director Jean-Christophe Maillot's representative work 'Swan Lake (LAC)' starting with the Hwaseong performance on the 13th of this month, then in Seoul on the 16th-17th, and Daejeon on the 20th ^[2]. It's a work that completely varies the original into a psychological drama where the good and evil within humans collide, rather than a fairy tale love story ^[2]. Best of all, our proud Korean principal dancer Ahn Jae-yong will be on stage! ^[2] And Princess Caroline of Monaco, who re-founded the ballet company, will also visit Korea in person for this tour, so the scale is incredible, right? ((ref:22), (ref:24)) A stage where the elegance of classics and the unconventionality of modern dance are combined, my heart is already beating fast!

🎋 Seoul City Ballet's Second Full-Length New Work 'In The Bamboo Forest'

Following 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Seoul City Ballet will perform their second full-length creative ballet 'In The Bamboo Forest' at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts from the 15th to the 17th of this month ^[3]. Kang Hyo-hyung, a soloist and choreographer of the Korean National Ballet, choreographed it, and geomungo player Park Da-ul collaborated ^[6]. It depicts the process of the protagonist entering a bamboo forest, emptying oneself, and gaining new strength. They say the scene where the ballerina takes off her pointe shoes and puts them down symbolically expresses 'emptying' ^[3]. The modern and unconventional direction of throwing off pointe shoes is totally a point that touches a nerd's heart 😭!

🎬 The Legend Resurrected on Screen, Re-release of Pina Bausch's Movie <Pina>

A name that modern dance nerds absolutely cannot not know, Pina Bausch! The movie <Pina> directed by Wim Wenders, which captured her art world in 3D, will be re-released on the upcoming May 6th to celebrate its 15th anniversary ^[4]. To be able to see the rough rain pouring on the stage and the explosive energy of the dancers on the theater screen again, this is definitely worth watching multiple times. Fans who love Pina Bausch's 'Tanztheater' should definitely run to the theater! ^[4]

🌎 Overseas Dance Scene & Fun Video News

There is also hot news from overseas. The New York City Ballet will present a dynamic contemporary ballet performance starting on the 24th of next month ^[8], and choreographer Alexander Ekman will stage a dreamy new work 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Ballet Dortmund ^[9]. Lastly, I brought a short-form video capturing the realistic 8 AM daily life of modern dance majors ^[10]. The sight of majors warming up from the morning is totally vivid, so be sure to check it out! 🤣

This week was really packed with dance news, right? I feel like I'll have to live in the theater in May. I hope everyone succeeds in ticketing, and I'll be back next week with fun and fruitful news! Bye! 🩰✨