American Ballet Theater (ABT) has promoted its Korean-born ballerina Seo Hee to the position of principal dancer, the renowned U.S. troupe announced via its website on Friday. Seo is the first Korean dancer to hold the position.

Seo’s promotion is taking place just weeks before her “Giselle” Korean tour which is scheduled to take place from July 18-22.

The 26-year-old dancer joined the ABT studio in 2004, became its member of the corps de ballet in March 2006 and was promoted to Soloist in August in 2010. Her repertoire with the company includes Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”; Tatiana in “Onegin”; and Giselle in “Giselle.”

While attending Korea’s Sun Hwa Arts Middle School in Seoul, Seo moved to the U.S. in 1999 to train at the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington D.C.  

Prior to joining ABT in 2004, Seo trained at the John Cranko Ballet Academy in Stuttgart, Germany, as a scholarship recipient.

Aside from her upcoming “Giselle” run in Seoul, where she’ll play the leading role, Seo is also scheduled to give ballet lessons during her stay in Korea, at Seoul-based Universal Ballet Company’s summer classes.  

By Claire Lee

(dyc@heraldcorp.com">dyc@heraldcorp.com)