[OffStage: Ballet in Nature] Boston Ballet Principal Dancer Ji Young Chae 'Quiet Beauty' 수석무용수 채지영

Описание: [WHAT] Quiet Beauty, an original dance and music short film, 'Quiet Beauty'
[WHO] Boston Ballet Principal Dancer Ji Young Chae
[WHEN] Video release: July 14 at 6:00 p.m. EDT
[WHERE] YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram: @KoreaCultureDC

The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. (KCCDC) proudly presents the latest episode of OffStage: Ballet in Nature, the sensational series of cinematic outdoor dance performances launched in 2020, featuring principal dancer Ji Young Chae of the Boston Ballet in a new original work performed in and inspired by the serenity of nature.

A deep, lush forest serves as the stage for this original music, dance, and film work entitled Quiet Beauty. A dancer appears to emerge from a majestic tree, and the scene begins to play out as if the viewer were secretly observing the forest’s hidden motions and the solitary dance of its ethereal occupant. Ballerina Ji Young Chae unleashes natural, graceful, and decisive movement as she engages with and channels the environment, immersed in a quiet sea of nature, before returning to her point of origin and the embrace of the tree. Through this brief but memorable performance, Chae offers viewers an opportunity to become centered, to heal, and to relax through a unique artistic depiction of oneness with nature.

[About the Dancer]
Ji Young Chae is a Principal Dancer with Boston Ballet. Chae trained at Seoul Arts High School and Korea National University of Arts in South Korea before joining Washington Ballet in 2011 and Boston Ballet in 2013, where she was promoted to soloist in 2015 and principal dancer in 2018. Chae was awarded the gold medal at the 2010 International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi and first prize at the 2010 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. In 2011 she received the gold medal at the Boston International Ballet Competition.

She has performed at the Paris Conservatory Ballet Festival and the International Baltic Ballet Festival Gala. Chae’s Boston Ballet repertoire includes Karole Armitage’s Bitches Brew, George Balanchine’s Chaconne and Donizetti Variations, August Bournonville’s pas de deux from Flower Festival in Genzano and La Sylphide (lead Sylph), John Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet (Gypsy), Jorma Elo’s Creatures of Egmont and Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius, William Forsythe’s Artifact 2017, Pas/Parts 2018, and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, and Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop, Ballerina Doll, and Snow Queen), Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora and Woodland Glade Fairy), Justin Peck’s In Creases, Leonid Yakobson’s Pas de Quartre, and Yury Yanowsky’s Smoke and Mirrors.

[About the Choreographer]
John Lam began dancing at the age of 4 at the Marin Ballet in San Rafael, CA. He rose quickly through the ranks and was awarded a scholarship to attend Canada's prestigious National Ballet School before being invited to join the Boston Ballet in 2003, where he was promoted to soloist in 2008 and principal dancer in 2014. Lam is a recipient of the 2005 Princess Grace Fellowship and has been lauded by the Boston Globe as one of Boston Ballet's "most versatile and expressive soloists." In addition to his stage work, Lam has produced an array of independent dance films including Movement in Structure, She/I, Moving pArts, and The Air Before Me, several of which have received critical acclaim at international dance film festivals. Lam appeared in the Disney film, The Game Plan, and played the role of Ariel in the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Production of The Tempest. Beyond his work as a dancer, choreographer, and director, Lam remains active as a creative producer, actor, and arts advocate.

[About the Series]
OffStage: Ballet in Nature introduces leading and principal Korean dancers from renowned ballet companies across the United States as they perform original works in novel, outdoor settings where nature itself becomes the stage. Each video, presented in a short film format, will be available for Washingtonians and the broader public to view online free of charge. At a time when face-to-face interactions and formal performances remain limited, the KCCDC encourages global audiences to take time to relax and heal through the enjoyment of creative, nontraditional performances.

[Production Credits]
Director & Choreographer | John Ruggieri-Lam
Dancer | Ji Young Chae
Director of Photography & Editor | Daniel Jacobs
Project Director | Hyemee Baik
Composer & Cellist | Alan Toda-Ambaras
Recording and Mixing | Ross Matthei
Colorist | Avery Niles
Directing Consultant | Shaun Clarke
Location | Hammond Pond Reservation, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Music inspired by Franz Schubert