Inviting 32 dance teams from eight countries, this year’s K-Ballet World festival is gearing up to take center stage Aug. 15-28, highlighting both contemporary and classic dance movements.

“The theme that we try to uphold every year with the K-Ballet World is to introduce Korean ballet to the world and world ballet to Korea,” said Kim In-sook, head of the Korea Ballet Association, during a press conference held in Seoul on Wednesday.

Along with showcasing classical performances from some of Korea’s top ballet companies, including the Korean National Ballet and Universal Ballet, the two-week-long festival will also feature numbers performed by members of the Stuttgart Ballet -- one of the world‘s most renowned dance companies and widely considered to be at the forefront of international dance for the past five decades.

As part of the event’s grand gala concert on Aug. 23, Elisa Badenes and Constantine Allen of the Stuttgart company will take to stage with their shortened duet performance of Katarzyna Kozielska’s “Bite” -- a classically choreographed piece that’s dark, yet with a touch of humor.

Badenes and Allen will also perform snippets from John Cranko’s “Legende,” a production that was inspired by the works of Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun.

This year’s event has also invited dancers Anastasia Stashkevich and Vyacheslav Lopatin of Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet, among the world’s oldest ballet companies. The pair will perform scenes from one of the ballet world’s most classic tales -- “Don Quixote” -- and from the “Mashkovsky Waltz.“

As part of its educational outreach initiatives, the 8th K-Ballet World also offers a handful of free tutorial classes open to all members of the public.

For more information on scheduling and ticket pricing, visit www.kballetworld.com.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)