Universal Principals

It was 1995. Fearing the impact of the impending Chinese takeover, Bruce Steivel stepped down as artistic director of the Hong Kong Ballet. Soon thereafter, he found himself in another potentially prickly situation--signing on with the Universal Ballet, a South Korea-based dance troupe financed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s controversial Unification Church.

Steivel was well aware of the questions that had been raised about the decade-old company. Some viewed it as an example of expansionist tendencies on the part of the church, which has worldwide real estate holdings, owns media outlets such as the Washington Times newspaper, and also funds a ballet school in Washington, D.C. Others wondered if auditions for the company were thinly veiled recruitment efforts for a religion sometimes labeled a cult.

That Julia Moon, the star of the Universal Ballet, has close links to the church further eroded the company’s credibility. She is the daughter of top Moon associate Bo Hi Pak, who heads the church’s Korean Cultural Foundation, sponsor of UB. She was also engaged to Moon’s son, marrying him posthumously after he died in a car crash in 1984.

It was only after raising such issues, Steivel says, that he felt comfortable coming aboard. “I looked into church involvement--how much the ballet had to do for them,” he says. “And I found that the company is a totally artistic endeavor, which the church supports 100%. This is not a vanity operation.”

Steivel is speaking from Las Vegas, where he also heads up the Nevada Dance Theater. Currently dividing his time between Seoul and the U.S., he’s about to relinquish his role as Universal Ballet’s artistic director. His swan song with the Koreans is a seven-week, 12-city North American tour--the troupe’s first in the U.S.--which kicks off this week with three performances at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Theater.

Steivel maintains that too much has been made of the Universal Ballet-Unification Church connection. Of the 52 dancers in the company, only two--including Moon--are church members. There’s a silent prayer before each performance, but participation is voluntary. Still, Pak--a devotee of ballet--does have a strong say in the repertory, he concedes. He favors full-length classical ballet over modern and avant-garde. Bare-feet and sexually explicit subject matter are verboten.

Moon also defends the company. At a time when support for the arts is dwindling, she says, Universal Ballet has filled a void. “In Korea, they say we’ve pioneered dance and shortened the time needed for ballet to develop,” the dancer relates long-distance from Seoul. “People tend to criticize, but respect should be paid where respect is due.”

The company has toured Italy and Austria and performed extensively in Asia, triggering positive reviews. “The ‘Swan Lake’ performed by Universal Ballet in 1992 showed a level of artistry which is seldom seen on the Korean stage,” said Auditorium, a monthly Korean music and arts magazine. The Korea Times called the company “splendid,” in its 1996 “Sleeping Beauty.”

The company put off an American trip until the troupe matured, Steivel says--and their arrival should be an eye-opener. Ballet blossomed in Korea during the past 50 years, he notes, and the need to import teachers and technique from abroad has created a rather unusual mix.

“This company is very much East meets West,” observes the 48-year-old North Carolinian, who performed with the Houston Ballet, the Scottish Ballet and Roland Petit’s Ballet National de Marseille, among others. “Koreans are very dedicated and athletic. Russian technique, taught at universities over there, is also very physical. The previous artistic director, an American, introduced the speed of Balanchine’s technique. What you get is dancers with Russian strength and power who can move very quickly, as well.”

Careful not to sound immodest, Moon passes along the observations of others. “Many people have said our troupe is very lyrical,” the American-born dancer says in perfect English. “I tell the dancers we have to leave the audience with a fragrance, something that lingers.”

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The Russian influence goes beyond technique. Much of Universal Ballet’s full-length dance repertory has been imported from the Kirov Ballet through Oleg Vinogradov, who led that company for nearly 21 years. In 1989, he tapped Moon to be guest artist with the Kirov, and he has since taught at UB. Vinogradov, with his wife, Yelena, also heads the church-supported dance school in Washington. (Vinogradov and the Unification Church recently discussed the possibility of financing an L.A.-based ballet company, led by the Russian. Plans fell through, however, when Pak deemed the costs too high.)

On tour, the troupe will perform the Vinogradov-Kirov version of “Swan Lake,” with Moon as the Swan Queen/Black Swan, as well as “Shim Chung: The Blindman’s Daughter.” Based on a Korean folk tale and set to Western music, “Shim Chung” was created for the company by Adrienne Dellas. The story of a maiden (Moon) who sacrifices herself on her father’s behalf, it was voted one of the top dance works produced in Korea in the last 50 years and is UB’s signature piece.

Moon’s own East-West connections make her a living bridge between cultures. Born Hoon-Sook Pak, in Washington, D.C., where her father served as a military attache, she grew up in Virginia and studied ballet at the McLean School of the Arts. At 10, Moon toured with the Little Angels of Korea children’s folk-dance troupe, another Unification Church-sponsored institution.

During her junior high years, she attended South Korea’s equivalent of Juilliard. Proficient on the piano, in vocals and dance, Moon ultimately concentrated on ballet. A year at London’s Royal Ballet School in 1979 was followed by two at Monaco’s Princess Grace Academy of Classical Dance.

Moon danced in the corps of the Ohio Ballet before joining the Washington (D.C.) Ballet. In 1984, Universal Ballet came into being. Led by Dellas, her teacher in Korea, the company was built around three dancers. One departed for academia and another started her own company, Moon says. Only then did she became the prima ballerina--and, later, the troupe’s general director.

Shy and down to earth, Moon avoids the spotlight. “I hate the term ‘prima ballerina’--it makes me think of Fonteyn and Makarova,” she says. “It’s reserved for very special dancers. Though I’m one of the principals, very much at the center, this company is not all about me.”

Steivel praises Moon’s “line and her emotional quality.” Still, when Vinogradov cast her as “Giselle” with the Kirov, skeptics had a field day. “Julia is lovely,” ABT ballet mistress and former UB instructor Georgina Parkinson told the Los Angeles Times. “But I don’t think she could ever become a dancer for the world market.”

Moon herself had doubts. “Vinogradov saw me on a video and cast me,” she recalls. “Was I prepared? Of course not. But I worked very hard and the Russians were very warm. They love ballet the way Americans love football.”

The Moscow News called Moon’s performance a “success”; on a Universal Ballet tour in 1990, the Italian newspaper La Stampa wrote: “Julia Moon is an exquisite protagonist--a particularly lyrical ballerina.”

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Offstage, Moon’s life is an unusual one by Western standards. In 1984, at the age of 21, she was about to marry 17-year-old Heung-Jin Moon, when he lost his life. Since Unification Church dogma prescribes that a person must be married to enter heaven, she took part in a wedding soon after his death. To this day, she considers herself his wife.

“It’s our belief that man and woman are half of a whole being and that it’s in marriage that they become one,” Moon says. “It’s plus and minus, yin and yang--united they resemble God, who has both male and female traits. In my mind, it’s eternal, a lifelong commitment. He’s part of what I’m expressing in dance.”

In yet another twist, Moon adopted a son, Shin-Chul Moon, born to her brother-in-law--the third son of Rev. Moon. The 6-year-old understands the situation, she says, and spends half his time with his birth parents.

At 35, says Moon, she hopes to dance a while longer. “When I retire, people think the company will close,” she says. “But we’re giving young dancers opportunities and developing future principals.”

Steivel gives Moon “six to nine years”--but is grooming the ranks even so. Jae-Hong Park, a principal since 1990, has appeared with the Kirov and Royal Winnipeg ballets. Hyuk-Ku Kwon and Jae-Won Hwang also dance leading roles.

“This company, let’s face it, will never be ABT,” Steivel concedes. “But with such energy and talent, it could be the Stuttgart Ballet. UB has the same newness and potential that they have. And they’ll be putting their best foot forward on this tour--Julia is cracking the whip.”

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* The Universal Ballet performs “Swan Lake,” Friday, 8 p.m., and “Shim Chung,” Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sunday, 3 p.m., Luckman Theater, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive. $20-$40. (213) 343-6600.