The 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 takes place just weeks before her “Giselle” Korean tour, which is scheduled to run from July 18-22. 

The 26-year-old dancer joined ABT in 2004, became a member of its corps de ballet in March 2006 and was promoted to soloist in August 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 the Seoul-based Universal Ballet Company (UBC)’s summer classes.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)