Julia H. Moon speaks about the accomplishments of the Universal Ballet during its first 25 years. (Photo by Weekly Kyunghyang)

Seoul -- In the 25 years since it was founded, Korea's Unversal Ballet has worked to make ballet a far more familiar art form to the general Korean public, the company's general director Julia H. Moon said in a recent interview with the South Korean news magazine Weekly Kyunghang.

"I knew that people liked musicals, so I created the ballet musical Shimchong, I created an exploratory program, "A Peek at Ballet," as a way for people young and old to gain a feeling of familiarity with ballet," Mrs. Moon said in an interview published in the November 24, 2009 edition of the news weekly.

"We have had open rehearsals where people who love ballet could see glamorous ballerinas as they are in their everyday routine, and we have held frequent performances in the Cultural Hall of Shinsegai Department Store where commentary was inserted in the performances as a way to broaden the audience base," Mrs. Moon said.