[비즈한국] Contemporary dancer Cha Jin-yeop has been appointed as the Director and Artistic Director of the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company. On Monday, May 19, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young appointed Cha Jin-yeop, the representative and artistic director of Collective A, to the position and presented her with the letter of appointment. The new director will serve a three-year term.
The new director, Cha Jin-yeop, graduated from the Korea National University of Arts and received her master's and doctoral degrees in contemporary dance from the London Contemporary Dance School. She founded the creative art group Collective A in 2012 and currently serves as its representative and artistic director.
Based in contemporary dance, she has moved beyond the traditional forms of performing arts to explore the diversity and possibilities of art, continuously pursuing a multi-faceted approach and inquiry into the language of dance. In addition to contemporary dance choreography, she has worked on various projects, including serving as the choreography director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and as the artistic director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
She has received several awards, including the Korea Dance Critics Award for Best Work (2012), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's 'Young Artist of the Year' Award (2014), the Choreography Award at the 2nd Korea Musical Awards (2018), and the Isadora Dance Art Award from the Korea Contemporary Dance Association (2022).
Established in 2010, the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company is the only national contemporary dance organization in the country, dedicated to performance creation, production, and international exchange projects.
Regarding the new director, Minister Choi Hwi-young stated, "Based on her wealth of experience in the field as a dancer and choreographer, as well as her creative leadership, I expect her to lead the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company with stability and contribute to expanding the base of contemporary dance and strengthening its international competitiveness."