The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday opened a practice hall at the Seoul Arts Center to help five state-run arts companies practice their performances.

The five are the Korea National Opera Company, the Korea National Ballet Company, the National Chorus of Korea, the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company and the Korean Symphony Orchestra.

The practice hall is located at the outdoor concert venue of the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul. The building’s construction began in January, 2009 and was completed in February this year. The hall has nine studios for opera, ballet, choir, contemporary dance and orchestral music.

“State-run arts companies have moved from the National Theater of Korea to the Seoul Arts Center in 2000 but they didn’t have much space for practice,” a ministry official said.

“The new practice hall will help them merge different performing arts as well as provide them with more space for practice.”

(yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)