Cho Yeon-jae, a dancer with the National Ballet of Korea, has been promoted to principal dancer, the highest rank within the company.

Cho's promotion to principal dancer comes seven years after she joined the company in 2018, and one year after her promotion to soloist.

Cho, who started at the lowest rank of corps de ballet II, took her first leading role in the Nutcracker as Marie in her first year with the company.

Since then, she has performed leading roles in the National Ballet's classical repertoire, including Giselle, Medora in Le Corsaire, Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadère, and Marie in the Nutcracker. She has also given impressive performances in modern and dramatic ballets such as The Little Mermaid and Ssss...

In addition, Jung Eun-ji, who joined the company in 2021 and has since played major characters such as Mercedes in Don Quixote, the Ruby Soloist in Jewels, and Marie in The Nutcracker, has been promoted to demi-soloist. Lee Eun-seo was also promoted to demi-soloist, and Kwak Dong-hyun was promoted to corps de ballet I.