Korean ballerino Jeon Min-chul, first soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre ballet company, poses for a photo during a press conference for the 2026 staging of "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 6. NEWS1 Breakout star ballerino Jeon Min-chul, first soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre's ballet company, dances Prince Siegfried in Universal Ballet's "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center (SAC) opening next week, the one work he calls the classic among all classical ballets. It is the second straight year the SAC and Universal Ballet have staged the ballet together, but Jeon's first time dancing in the SAC production. Korean ballerino Jeon Min-chul, first soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre ballet company, speaks during a press conference for the 2026 staging of "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 6. NEWS1 The vocabulary of “Swan Lake” is what makes it the one prime classic among all the other classical ballets, according to Jeon. 모바일 레알 야마토 “The reason I feel it is the prime classic has, first of all, to do with the movement — the form and the frame we work in are themselves classical,” said Jeon during a press conference for “Swan Lake” at the SAC in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Thursday. “Ballet is often described as a language spoken with the body — a play performed with the body — and I felt 'Swan Lake' was classical ballet in that emotion can be delivered so well to an audience through classical movement.” Reinterpretations of the ballet are not in short supply — drama ballet, contemporary versions, several altered “Swan Lakes” in Korea alone this year — and none of it has changed Jeon’s mind. “I would go as far as to say there is still no ‘Swan Lake’ that can follow this original one,” said Jeon. “It expresses what it needs to without a wide range of movement, using only classical steps and the basic vocabulary of ballet.” 릴게임 백경 A scene from a 2025 performance of "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center SEOUL ARTS CENTER His affection for the production is old and specific, and a season inside the Mariinsky company that performs “Swan Lake” more than any other piece has sharpened Jeon’s sense of why it never leaves the repertoire. “I have loved this ballet from when I was young until now,” he said. “Every time I watch ‘Swan Lake,’ I hear the swan speaking, and I hear the prince speaking.” Jeon came up through Universal Ballet’s Julia Ballet Academy and Sunhwa Arts schools, then entered the Korea National University of Arts early as a gifted student, won the Youth America Grand Prix in 2025, and joined the Mariinsky the same year, dancing leads in “Romeo and Juliet” and “La Bayadere” since. The Mariinsky needs little introduction. Founded in St. Petersburg in the 18th century, it is one of the two companies — the other the Bolshoi — that most of the ballet world measures itself against. 양귀비 Foreign dancers rarely get in, and rarely rise once they do, which is what makes Jeon's first-soloist rank worth the attention. Moon Hoon-sook, Universal Ballet’s general director, has been watching Jeon’s progress since the academy, and could not take her eyes off him at his first-year high school ballet exam, two years before dancers normally join a company. “As many people know, Jeon was rehearsing ‘Billy Elliot’ when a teacher told him he should be doing ballet,” Moon said. “He is exact about perfection and yet enjoys the pressure — he treats what could be enormous stress as a challenge rather than a burden, which is incredible.” The production Jeon performs in is not the version the Mariinsky itself dances, a distinction dating to 1992, when Universal Ballet staged the first Mariinsky “Swan Lake” in Korea and opened a relationship with the Russian house that has run since. 모바일 야마토5게임 “In 1992 the artistic director was Oleg Vinogradov, and the Mariinsky had two versions at the time — Vinogradov’s, and the traditional one the company still performs,” Moon explained. “What we brought over was the Vinogradov version, and in it the lakeside scene and the ball scene are the same as the traditional one.” A scene from a 2025 performance of "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center SEOUL ARTS CENTER Where the versions diverge is the birthday celebration and the ending, both executed as per Vinogradov's vision. The versions also differ in their costumes. Universal Ballet replaced the costumes last year for the first time with designer Galina Solovyova returning for a three-year redesign of 150 pieces. Moon Hoon-sook, general director of the Universal Ballet, center left, and Korean ballerino Jeon Min-chul, first soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre ballet company, are seen during a press conference for the 2026 staging of "Swan Lake" at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 6. NEWS1 한국파칭코 Institutional exchange in ballet with Russia has largely stopped since the Ukraine war, but what keeps the connection alive between Russian and Korean ballet is the power of art, according to Moon. “Ballet as an art transcends everything,” she said. “At a time like this, the power of culture and art to move past nation, race and religion is what matters.” “Swan Lake” is famous for its showstoppers — the black swan’s 32 fouettés above all — but the scene Jeon loves best is one where the prince barely dances. “I especially love the lakeside scene in the second part of Act One,” Jeon said. “The prince has no solo there and little to do, but the corps of swans, the first meeting, the swan avoiding him and then the two falling into each other — that is genuinely beautiful.” “Swan Lake” runs from Aug. 14 to 23 at the SAC Opera Theater, with 11 total performances, six casts and music from the Korean National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Kim Sung-jin. Jeon dances Siegfried opposite principal Hong Hyang-gi on Aug. 16 and 19. Tickets range from 30,000 won to 140,000 won ($21 to $98). BY LIM JEONG-WON [] inely beau