Born in Seoul, Korea, Kim Yijin trained at Seoul Arts High School and later graduated from English National Ballet School Trainee Program. She danced with Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) on UK Tour and performed Don Quixote. She joined Hong Kong Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member in 2023.

Dancer Q&A

1. What does ballet mean to you?
It’s my everything, but not everything.

2. What’s the most challenging ballet you have danced and what made it so challenging?
All the ballets that I performed were challenging to me. Ballerinas try to present perfect performances to audiences, although ‘being perfect’ cannot be properly defined. I always analyse my role and practice ballet trying to be perfect. So I put up with hard days to make my ballet perfect, and getting over hard days is always challenging to me.

3. Most memorable/weird onstage moment and why?
Joining Birmingham Royal Ballet's Don Quixote tour was quite memorable for me.

I was playing Dryads in the corps de ballet and holding a static posture in the front row. Then, I saw a girl looking at me and giving me a shy smile. I couldn’t help smiling back at her. At that moment, I felt filled with a lot of energy even though I was so exhausted due to the long-term tour.

I couldn’t forget her smile and realised that a real smile in the audience always gives me a memorable moment.

4. What keeps you motivated on tough days?
I always get a lot of power and energy from my family and my friends who trust me with unconditional love.I would open my heart to them when I’ve gone through a tough day. I get advice from them or just laugh it off. They always give me courage and power to go forward and make me feel happy and thankful for the life I have. That is my forever motivation to go on.

5. What is the place where you feel most yourself?
London is where I lived alone for the first time away from my family. I shopped alone and managed my house and money on my own. When I lived in London, I felt confident about myself, like I finally became a real grown-up. I was really free and felt most myself for the first time.

6. What’s your favourite food?
I call myself a ‘sushi killer’!

I love Japanese and Korean food the most.

7. What would you be if you were not a dancer?
I would be a doctor because I love the human body. I am so interested in how the human body works and moves. Sometimes when I hurt myself, I think about which part of my body is injured. I analyse my movements and do different kinds of exercises.Often, I imagine what would happen if I specialised in the human body.

8. What’s your fashion style?
Different each time, but mostly I like basic/simple styles mixed with a little wit.

9. What is the coolest thing about being a dancer?
I would say being able to play different characters is a really cool thing. Dancers express emotions using not words but movements or gestures, which is also cool.。

10. If you can have a super power, what would it be?
Teleportion for sure.

I have a phobia about flying, which really matters to me, because ballerinas should visit a lot of cities and countries to perform ballets.Working abroad and being away from my family is one of the hardest things, so I often think that if I could teleport, I could go to other countries easier.