The Marmot’s Hole

Update (6 September 2006): Posted under category “Korean Culture,” although ”Arts” (for which there isn’t a category) would be more appropriate…. 

My knowledge of ballet extends only as far as seeing Gene Kelly’s numbers at the end of An American in Paris, et al. and listening to endless repetitions of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite as a child on our old record player, as my little sister would take a break from her “My Little Pony” fixation to flex her skills as an aspiring ballerina.  So I must admit that the news that Roy Tobias has passed away doesn’t mean much to me, but he seems to have been a major figure in the Korean ballet world.

Yonhap has an obituary from August 17th here: http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=001&article_id=0001385184&section_id=103&menu_id=103 .  In English, the New York Times published an obit on Saturday: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/obituaries/02tobias.html (sign-in required). 

Tobias was born in Philadelphia, and studied and performed in New York and Paris, working with the legendary George Ballanchine and Jerome Robbins.  He moved to Japan to teach ballet in 1961, and stayed there for two years, returning periodically thereafter (NYT).

In 1981, he moved to Korea, where he became the guest choreographer of the National Ballet Company.  In 1988, he became the artistic director of the Universal Ballet Company, and in 1995 moved to the Seoul Ballet Theater, where he served as artistic director and permanent (상임—chief?) choreographer until 2003.  Mr. Tobias became a naturalized Korean in 1990, and took the Korean name 이용재 (Yonhap).

In all, he choreographed roughly 20 ballets between 1988 and 2003 (Yonhap).  According to the NYT, “he helped to establish ballet in Korea as a teacher and choreographer of many ballets, including ‘Coppélia,’ ‘La Fille Mal Gardée’ and ‘The Nutcracker.’”  Yonhap writes of the gentleman,

국내 3대 발레단의 발전과 창단에 직접적 영향을 끼친 인물로 한국 발레계에서 빼놓을 수 없는 스승으로 꼽힌다.

(Very rough translation: “As having a direct influence on the development and direction [?] of three domestic ballet companies, his [role as a] teacher in the Korean ballet world cannot be overlooked”…which seems a bit of an understatement, unless I’ve lost something in the translation.)

Mr. Tobias suffered for many years from a long-standing “muscular ailment” (Yonhap), “a chronic condition…that made it difficult for him to eat” (NYT).  He passed away of complications related thereto in Seoul, on August 16th.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your cultural edification for today!  We now return to our regularly scheduled programming….