Name Seongho Cha | ||
Seongho Cha (also known as Jimmy Cha) is a South Korean ballet and classical Chinese dancer currently with the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. Cha began dancing at the age of 15, and rose to prominence in his home country of South Korea, winning top honors at a national ballet competition, and going on to represent South Korea at the 2006 USA International Ballet Competition, held once every four years in Jackson, Mississippi.
Biography
Cha joined Anaheim Ballet in 2002 as a soloist and principal dancer. He subsequently won a full scholarship to study dance at Point Park University, where he was called a "resident powerhouse technician." While dancing the lead role of Ichabod Crane at a Pittsburgh Playhouse production of "Sleepy Hollow" in 2004, Cha was lauded as a "complete package…a deceptively intelligent dancer." Cha graduated with a BA in dance from the Conservatory of Performing Arts in 2006, and continued his studies at New York University. Cha had also previously attended Sejong University in Seoul. He has an interest in Oriental medicine and has sought to find ways of combining the philosophy of traditional medicine with his dance.
In 2008, Cha made the transition from ballet to classical Chinese dance, joining Shen Yun Performing Arts as a principal dancer. In 2008, he won honorable mention in an international Chinese dance competition held by New Tang Dynasty Television, and the following year won silver at the same event.