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On 2 February Kimin Kim will be making his debut as Albrecht in the ballet Giselle.
Kimin Kim’s appearance in the Mariinsky Ballet is a rare phenomenon. Just a few years ago it seemed impossible that the St Petersburg company could engage foreign dancers. Nevertheless, while still a student at the Korea National University of Arts (class of the great St Petersburg dancers Vladimir Kim and Margarita Kulik), he became a trainee and subsequently a first soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet. These exceptional circumstances may be explained by the dancer’s skill; few have attained the ease with which he performs complex and demanding technical elements. Kimin’s virtuoso skill has dazzled in several plot-less ballets in the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire. The dancer also performs lead roles in such classical productions as Don Quixote (Basilio), Swan Lake (Siegfried) and La Bayadère (Solor) which, in addition to technical perfection, require dramatic expressiveness and work on the characters’ images. As Albrecht in Giselle the dancer will have to tame his ability to perform the head-spinning tricks of 21st century technique and match the style of romantic ballet.
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