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Born in Washington, D.C., Julia Moon began her professional training in Seoul, at the Sun Hwa Arts School. After further study at the Royal Ballet School in London and L’Academie de Danse Classique de Princess Grace in Monaco, she began her dancing career at the Washington Ballet working with Choo San Goh and Mary Day. She returned to Korea as a foundingmember of Universal Ballet in 1984, dancing leading roles in much of the company’s repertory, including the leads in Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, La Sylphide, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. She was one of the dancers chosen to dance the lead role in Universal Ballet’s Shim Chung, when the ballet was first created in 1986.
In 1989, she became the first Asian to appear as a guest principal with the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg. Working together with Oleg Vinogradov since 1992, she has led Universal Ballet to inherit the Russian classical ballet tradition, a leading force in the development of classical ballet in Korea. Touring extensively worldwide her performances in Korea and overseas have brought her great praise for her interpretation and artistry.
Moon has served as General Director of Universal Ballet since 1996 and as Chairwoman of the Universal Ballet Academy in Seoul and the Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington, DC, as well as advisor to the Sun Hwa Arts School ballet division. She has served on the jury for several international ballet competitions, including the Maya Plisetskaya International Ballet Competition in 1996, the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2002 and the Helsinki International Ballet Competition and Premio Roma in 2005, and the Jackson IBC in 2006. Her many awards include the Young Artist Award given by Korea’s Ministry of Culture and the Presidential Award for the Performing Arts. She has also received an honorary doctorate from the Moscow State University of the Arts. In 2010, she was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit Hwakwan from the Korean government.