Tae-ji Choi
Tae-ji Choi (born 1959) was appointed as the 6th artistic director of the Korea National Ballet in 2008. She was born in Kyoto, Japan and performed as a dancer there from 1968 to 1980. Her first performance for the Korea National Ballet was Scheherazade, in 1983, and she performed as guest dancer then.She became a regular member of the Korea National Ballet in 1987 and danced as prima ballerina until 1992. She acted as member of the direction committee from 1993 to 1995 and worked as the 3rd head and artistic director of the Korea National Ballet from 1996 to 2001. She created Ballet with Commentary, an entirely new and popular program, and collaborated on a work with world artists such as Yuri Grigorovich and Jean-Christophe Maillot. Also she has been a strong manager of the company. As the result of her efforts like above, she was able to create the first star marketing strategy in the Korean dance world while playing a decisive role in development of Korean ballet as one of today's popular art genres. The Korea National Ballet, together with all members and staff is endeavoring to jump into the 21st century under the slogan of "Globalization, Refinement and Popularization of the Korea National Ballet".