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Sketches for a Toiling Heart

Video Premiere: September 30 at 6:00 p.m. EDT

Via YouTube, Facebook, & Instagram: @KoreaCultureDC

 

The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. (KCCDC) proudly presents the latest episode of OffStage: Ballet in Nature, the hit series of cinematic outdoor dance short films launched in 2020, featuring Houston Ballet Principal Dancer Soo Youn Cho as she makes the U.S. Capital a grand stage in Sketches for a Toiling Heart.

 

The stone monuments and lush greenery of the National Mall serve as a serene backdrop for this original music, dance, and cinematic work filmed in Washington, D.C. and the nearby Korean Bell Garden located in Virginia’s Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. Amid the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, these iconic settings’ significance as a stage for dance is two-fold: they symbolize a nation still in need of healing as well as Cho’s own life journey as a Korean immigrant, struggling to acclimate to American life and thrive as a professional dancer.

 

 

Through positive energy and powerful movements, Cho strives to send a message of healing through her artistry, rooted in communion with the natural environment. The resulting scenes are a profound and mysterious transcendence of time and space, layering visual and cultural elements of both Korea and the U.S. 

 

This episode of OffStage: Ballet in Nature releases on September 30 at 6:00 p.m. EDT on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram via the KCCDC (@Koreaculturedc). For complete information and previous episodes, visit the Performing Arts section of the KCCDC website.

 

 

Production Credits

 

Project Director | Hyemee Baik

Managerial Director | David Tauler

Cinematographer, Editor, Colorist | Zhibo Lai

Camera Persons | Koichi Take, Brad Baerwald

Choreographer | Connor Walsh

Dancer | Soo Youn Cho

Photographer | Anthony Lyon

Costume Designers | Alison Miller, Serge Ovechko

Makeup & Hair Artist | Sara Shakir

Music | Étude Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat major by Frédéric Chopin

Locations | Thomas Jefferson Memorial (Washington, D.C.) and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (Virginia)

Special thanks to Houston Ballet for additional images and support.

 

About Soo Youn Cho

 

Soo Youn Cho is a Principal Dancer with Houston Ballet. She was born in the city of Incheon in the Republic of Korea and trained at Sun Hwa Arts School in Korea, Canada National Ballet School (with a full scholarship from the 2002 Prix de Lausanne), and John-Cranko Ballet School in Stuttgart, Germany. Ms. Cho has earned numerous recognitions, including a gold medal at the 2001 Korea Ballet Competition, winner of the Prix de Lausanne in 2002, a bronze medal at the 2002 Varna Competition in Bulgaria, and a gold medal at the Tanzolymp in Berlin in 2005. She danced professionally with Leipziger Ballet in Germany before joining Tulsa Ballet in 2007, where she was promoted to principal in 2010. Ms. Cho joined Houston Ballet as a demi soloist in 2012 and was promoted to soloist in 2014, first soloist in 2016, and principal dancer in 2018.

 

Some of Ms. Cho's featured roles include Hanna in Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Swanhilda in Ben Stevenson's Coppélia, Sugar Plum Fairy in Stanton Welch's The Nutcracker, Kitri in Ben Stevenson's Don Quixote, Countess Marie Larisch in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling, Gamzatti in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère, Suzuki in Stanton Welch's Madame Butterfly, roles in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Myrtha in Stanton Welch’s Giselle, Waltz girl in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Aurora, Lilac Fairy, and Carabosse in Ben Stevenson's The Sleeping Beauty, Mistress in Sir Kenneth MacMillian's Manon, and Katherine in John Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew. Ms. Cho was also featured in the premiere of Oliver Halkowich’s Following for the Company’s 50th anniversary season in 2019.

 

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 is presented in a short film format 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.