Director Soojin Kang: "'The Lady of the Camellias' Is a Very Special Work... Overwhelmed with Emotion"

National Ballet Company to Premiere 'The Lady of the Camellias' Next Month
Director Soojin Kang's Award-Winning Work Recognized by Benois de la Danse

"'The Lady of the Camellias' is a very special work for me. As the director and artistic director of the National Ballet Company, I am happy and grateful to be able to share and perform this beloved piece with my junior dancers."

Soojin Kang, director of the National Ballet Company, expressed her overwhelming emotions ahead of the performance of her signature work, The Lady of the Camellias, at a press conference held at the Seoul Arts Center on the 29th. The Lady of the Camellias is the piece that brought Director Kang the honor of being the first Asian to receive the Benois de la Danse award for Best Female Dancer, the highest honor in the dance world, in 1999. The National Ballet Company will present the Korean premiere of The Lady of the Camellias at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center from May 7 to 11.

Soojin Kang, director of the National Ballet Company, is sharing her thoughts ahead of the performance of her signature work "The Lady of the Camellias" at a press conference held at the Seoul Arts Center on the 29th. Director Kang won the Benois de la Danse award for Best Female Dancer in 1999 for her role as Marguerite in The Lady of the Camellias, the highest honor in the dance world.
Photo by National Ballet Company

Director Kang emphasized, "As a ballerina on stage, I truly loved The Lady of the Camellias, and as an artistic director, I poured deep affection into bringing this work to the stage of the National Ballet Company."

For this performance, she invited Marijn Rademaker, a fellow dancer with whom she performed The Lady of the Camellias during her time at the Stuttgart Ballet. The purpose was to demonstrate the piece directly in front of her juniors together with Rademaker.

"I wanted to share everything I felt and experienced while performing The Lady of the Camellias with my junior company members. During the demonstration, I was surprised to realize that the movements and emotions from the performance were still alive in my body and heart. It was overwhelming, as if the moments of dancing on stage were coming back to life."

The Lady of the Camellias is a representative work by world-renowned choreographer John Neumeier, who won the Benois de la Danse award for choreography in 1992. The piece had its world premiere by the Stuttgart Ballet at the W?rttemberg State Theater in Germany on November 4, 1978. Last year, the National Ballet Company presented the Korean premiere of another Neumeier work, The Little Mermaid, and Neumeier, who was born in 1939, has visited Korea for two consecutive years.

The Lady of the Camellias is based on the novel by French writer Alexandre Dumas fils, known in Korea as "Chunhui (La Dame aux Camelias)." It tells the story of the ill-fated love between the courtesan Marguerite and the pure-hearted young nobleman Armand. The novel Chunhui also served as the basis for Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece "La Traviata." As such, Chunhui has been a source of inspiration for many artists.

Neumeier cited personal experience and perspective as reasons for choosing the original works for his ballets, such as The Little Mermaid and Chunhui.

"Personally, I have to discover myself within the work. That does not mean that the characters in the piece, such as Marguerite or Armand, are directly me. When I sense an emotional or psychological truth that resonates with me, I decide that it can be transformed into a new artistic form. With some works, I immediately feel that they can be made into a ballet, emotionally and instantly."

Soojin Kang, director of the National Ballet Company (right), and John Neumeier, choreographer of "Camellia Lady," are taking a commemorative photo after a press conference at the Seoul Arts Center on the 29th.
Photo by National Ballet Company

The Lady of the Camellias, which depicts the heartbreaking love between a young man and woman of different social status, is also regarded as a representative work of drama ballet. During the performance, the story of another French novel about love between people of different social classes, "Manon Lescaut," is presented as a play within a play. The two protagonists of Manon Lescaut, the young nobleman Chevalier des Grieux and the commoner Manon, also appear as characters in The Lady of the Camellias. In addition, the music of "the poet of the piano," Frederic Chopin, a composer representing 19th-century Romanticism, further enriches the dramatic effect.

Neumeier and Director Soojin Kang both emphasized that, as this work highlights emotional aspects, conveying the emotions of the characters is crucial.

Director Soojin Kang said, "The Lady of the Camellias is a work that expresses human love, sacrifice, and deep inner emotions through the language of ballet. As with all works, but especially with The Lady of the Camellias, every moment must be danced with honesty, sincerity, and wholeheartedness in order to fully convey its profound emotion."

Neumeier explained, "The Lady of the Camellias contains many forms of love, but it is not a work that depends solely on its two main characters. All ten characters must be balanced and stand on the same level, both technically and emotionally."

However, Neumeier added that The Lady of the Camellias is not a work created to deliver a particular message. "I do not believe that a painter paints or a writer writes in order to deliver a message. I believe artists create works because they have no choice but to do so. If I had to say what message The Lady of the Camellias conveys, I would say it is empathy for love."