“I was 14 when I auditioned to get into the National Ballet School of Canada. I then moved from Seoul to Toronto by myself. After a short while there, I fell very ill and had to stop dancing for 4 years. Those were the darkest times in my life. Ballet defines who I am. It is a part of myself. Suddenly losing it, I felt dispossessed and lost. I went back home to Korea for two years. There, I went little by little back to exercising.
I can still remember today the smell of the studio the day I went back to the barre for the first time. I was with my childhood dance teacher, I stood at the barre, put my hand on it and my chest opened. I felt I could breathe again. I still clearly remember this feeling.
Today, whenever something is going wrong in my life; I think about the past and feel so grateful that I can do what I love.”
– Ji Min Hong, Royal Danish Theater.
THE WHAT DANCE CAN DO PROJECT 