AHN Sung-soo, an artistic director of Korea National Contemporary Dance Company(KNCDC) and a professor of the choreography department at Korea National University of Arts School of Dance, received his BFA in dance under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy from The Juilliard School in 1992. In the same year, he established his own dance company called "Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up Group." In 1997, AHN moved back to Seoul after 13 years of living in the United States and re-founded his pick-up group in Seoul, Korea. Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up Group was first founded in New York by AHN Sung-soo, who majored in journalism and broadcasting and film studies before becoming a choreographer. The company was later reestablished in Seoul when he returned to Korea in 1998. AHN has staged numerous dance performances to great acclaim, and has received many awards at home and abroad, making it difficult to believe his late start as a dancer. Most notably, in 2006, Bolero was nominated as a finalist at the Benois de la Danse, one of the world's most prestigious dance competitions. AHN scouts out dancers for his company from diverse backgrounds, including traditional Korean dance, K-Pop dance and hip hop, training them in ballet techniques employing the concept of "body neutralization (a state in which dancers are prepared to move freely)." In recent years, AHN has explored the beauty uncovered through the organic blending of Eastern and Western techniques and perspectives. 2010 Annual International Contemporary Dance Conference & Performance Festival, Poland 2011 Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre, Georgia 2015 Festival Grec de Barcelona, Spain 2016 Festival Internacional de Musica y Danza de Granada, Spain 2016 Theatre national de Chaillot , France