Choi Tae-ji, a Japanese-born South Korean prima ballerina, has dedicated herself to developing ballet in her country, once described by South Korean media as a "ballet desert" because of its failure to produce any great dancers.
The 53-year-old director of the Korea National Ballet was born in 1959 to Korean parents, who ran a construction company in the port of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture.
She started learning ballet at age 9 under the tutelage of the late Japanese ballerina Yaoko Kaitani, who was known as "the face of postwar Japanese ballet," and traveled around Japan with her.