Yeu-JUNG Lee

 Yeu-Jung Lee started her ballet training when she was ten years old. Her outstanding musicality, flexibility, and concentration allowed her to develop quickly into a young artist displaying great potential. Two years later, she entered Sun Hwa Arts School as a ballet major, and her intensive ballet training began.

After her graduation from Sun Hwa Arts School in 1989, the Director of the Royal Ballet School in London invited her to study at the prestigious institution. After studying for one year in London, she was chosen as a full scholarship student in the inaugural class of the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC. At the Academy, she distinguished herself as an artist of special ability through training with Mistress Alla Sizova and Master Nicolai Morozov.

Unfortunately, when she was eighteen years old, she was injured in an automobile accident that made her unable to pursue a career as a professional dancer. After a period of soul-searching, she decided to remain in the field of professional dance, and turned the focus of her study from performance to choreography and pedagogy.

In 1998, she returned to her native Korea and began working as a choreographer, repetiteur and rehearsal director at the Universal Ballet Academy of Seoul. In 2000, she was selected as a recipient of the Samsung MAMPIST Award for Artistic Excellence in Dance, and she used the scholarship to study at the world-renowned Vaganova Academy of Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, receiving advanced training in the Vaganova Method of Ballet. At the Vaganova Academy, she trained under the direction of Mme. Valentina Rumiantseva, where she obtained a certificate for advanced study in the Vaganova Method. Yeu-Jung then enrolled in the department of dance at the University of Maryland to further her education in movement theory, choreography, and dance aesthetics, and to expand her network of international arts colleagues. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2003 with a BA in Dance.

Returning to Korea, she accepted a position as a dance Instructor with Sun Hwa Arts Middle and High School, the foremost art school in Korea emphasizing the Vaganova method of ballet. During her tenure as a member of the artistic staff at the Sun Hwa Arts School, Yeu-Jung's students consistently won medals at international and domestic ballet competitions, including the Prix de Lausanne, New York International Ballet Competition, Shanghai International Competition, and the Korean Ballet Association National Ballet Competition. She also rehearsed, coached and staged repertory for Sun Hwa ballet festivals, including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and various modern works.

In 2008, Yeu-Jung Lee joined the Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington, DC where she had an opportunity to teach with world’s leading teachers and vastly expand her artistic potential and teaching skills. At this time, she was also responsible for choreographing several performances that won the hearts and praise of a critical audience.

Testimony to Yeu-Jung’s teaching ability is the fact several of her former students are currently dancing at various world renowned companies such as the American Ballet Theatre, Stuttgart Ballet, Houston Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Korean National Ballet, Universal Ballet, Columbia Classical Ballet, John Cranko Ballet School, and Bolshoi Ballet Academy.