Korean National Ballet is Korea’s first professional ballet company established in 1962 that embodies the history of Korean ballet. During its approximately 60 years of history, KNB has been widely recognized both at home and abroad thanks to its scores of committed dancers and choreographers as well as great art directors and impressive repertoire. Today, with about 60 of the country’s top ballet dancers and a repertoire of international masterpieces, the ballet company continues to reach out to audiences through regular performances and an array of special performances.

KNB’s major full-length ballet repertoire includes Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich’s <Swan Lake>, <The Nutcracker>, <Spartacus> and <La Bayadère>; Patrice Bart’s <Giselle>; Márcia Haydée's <Sleeping Beauty>; and John Cranko's <The Taming of the Shrew>. With a range of other performances including Uwe Scholz's <The Seventh Symphony>, Glen Tetley's <The Rite of Spring>, George Balanchine's <Serenade>, <Jewels>, Christian Spuck's <Anna Karenina>, Renato Zanella’s <Mata Hari>, Jiří Kylián's < Forgotten Land > and < Sechs Tänze >, Song Jungbin's < Le Corsaire >, Frederick Ashton's < La Fille mal gardée>, Edward Clug's < Ssss... >, Willian Forsythe's < Artifact Ⅱ>, KNB has been broadening its scope from classical ballet to modern, neo-classical and dramatic ballet.

KNB has also been striving to create a repertoire of original works such as <Prince Hodong> and <Heo Nan Seol Heon - Su Wol Kyung Hwa> inspired by a traditional Korean folk tale and classic poems, respectively. <Hoi Rang>, a new show set to premiere in 2019, is another original work that renders a traditional Korean narrative through the movements of a Western dance form. The new show demonstrates how much effort has been put into the creation of original Korean ballet works.

Since 2015, the ballet company has highlighted the “KNB Movement Series” project to provide its dancers with an opportunity to showcase their choreographical talent. This project is significant not only as it supports the dancers as they start a new phase of their lives as choreographers but also enriches and expands KNB’s repertoire by further developing the pieces created by the dancers to become robust works that continue beyond the one-off showcase.

Also, to fulfill its mission of making ballet more accessible to the Korean public, KNB engages in a range of programs such as “Regional Performance Tours” and “Ballet Academy Tours” that bring ballet to every corner of the country. Furthermore, it has also performed around the world as the representative Korean ballet company, promoting the excellence of Korean culture and art to the entire world.