Portrait Ballerina Sue Jin Kang: art of movement
At 44, dancer feels more alive than ever. “There’s some kind of magic in the ballet, you enter another spiritual world if you can explain it that way.”
By Lee Hyo-won
This is the first in a series of interviews with international pioneers among Korean artists, to mark the 61st anniversary of The Korea Times that falls on Nov. 1, and is sponsored by the Korea Press Foundation. – ED.
STUTTGART, Germany ― Lazy summer days were winding down and there was a crispness in the air. It was going to be one of the last sunny days before the fall showers but the new season was about to begin at the Stuttgart Ballet ― and so its principal dancer Sue Jin Kang could only be found in one place.
Kang stood outside the rehearsal room. One could have easily taken her for a budding member of the corps de ballet ― her youthful visage and casual demeanor almost betrayed the image of the glamorous artist, especially as she interrupted the how-do-you-do’s to kiss her husband with girlish glee.
But once she set off to warm up in the empty studio, she seemed to morph into someone else, as she drew spatial designs with effortless ease, giving the simplest gestures an ethereal grace.
“There’s some kind of magic in the ballet, you enter another spiritual world if you can explain it that way,” Kang told The Korea Times, reaching for a bottle of water, which she did not forget to offer this reporter before taking a thirsty gulp.
“You’re not just moving your body but you have to pour your heart and soul into it all together. I fell in love with this feeling without even realizing it. And the more you dance the more beautiful roles you play, and feeling gets deeper.”
At 44, a ballerina is long past her prime, most likely retired. But this one graces the season opener. And yet she isn’t one to celebrate having leapt over the confines of time; in fact she relishes aging with even more poise than her perfect pirouettes.
“I am happier now; I really like getting older,” she said. “I don’t work any less now that I’m older, and I imagine I’d keep practicing even after I retire. I can’t help but move, I hate feeling out of shape. But I do spend less time dancing than before because you learn to become more efficient with a higher level of concentration. You become smarter.”
The piercing intensity of her dark eyes was immediately offset by the bounce in her laughter.
There was something disquieting about her beauty: she evoked some of the most unnerving sentiments as she lay still on the floor, tightly rolled up into a ball, or as she commanded an air of almost oppressive serenity with her quick, nimble toe-work.
This paradoxical dynamism that manifests within motionlessness, and vice versa, is what Koreans call “jeongjungdong/dongjungjeong.” In Kang’s dance, there is a complicated simplicity, an explosive energy even within the most static moments that together form an organic whole of constant movement.
It’s no wonder Kang is a master of this art, since she had originally trained in local folk dance as a teen.
“I only learned the Korean tradition for two years but I learned how breathing is connected to all bodily movements. Such Korean-ness is my specialty if you will. I always tell Korean students to learn folk dance because in this global age there are so many technically immaculate dancers, you need something that makes you unique.”
While Kang embraced local values she chose to expand her horizons abroad. “I moved to Monaco when I was only 15. It was difficult but I was young; my mind was (an empty slate) that soaked everything up easily,” she said. She never complained about how tough it was. “I hated being one of those girls that hide behind their mothers’ skirts, and I refused whenever my mother offered to accompany me to competitions.”
Kang went on to mark many firsts: She became the first Asian laureate of the Prix de Lausanne and the youngest ever dancer to enter the Stuttgart Ballet at the age of 17. Among her many honors and achievements she was named “Kammertanzerin” or chamber dancer, the highest recognition the German government bestows on an artist. She was the first in 13 years to receive the title as well as the first Asian to do so.
Looking back to her 20s and 30s, she shudders at the thought of reliving those years. “I was not very happy then because I didn’t know myself very well. But it was a necessary process, something I had to go through in order to grow comfortable in my skin. I am so happy now.”
The secret to her success and longevity, she says, is no secret at all ― “It’s simple: discipline and focus.”
“My problem is that I’m too merciless with myself. My life motto is to live each day to the fullest 100 percent. It’s not easy because there are days when I am tired; I’m only human.”
What helps her stay grounded, however, is the constant fight within.
“I never compare myself to others and I’ve only looked at one thing, which is dancing. Others I suppose discover talent in other areas and explore other channels but I’ve walked a single path. I’m a very, very simple person in a way, almost too simple, but I’m happy.”
Meeting the ballerina in the rehearsal room where she crafts her hard work demonstrated that art is a means and not an end ― that it’s an integral part of life.
It was endearingly humanizing to hear how her voice seemed too husky for her slight frame, or how the regal air she wafted about with delicate hand gestures was so disparate from her long, angular legs that were sprawled out impishly on the floor. She constantly tapped her toes together like a curious child.
Once out of her rehearsal gear she transformed into the girl-next-door ― clad in jeans and sneakers, grooving to Rihanna in the car, wanting to go home to see her pet dogs and watch “X-Factor” with her husband.
“Dancing is like breathing ― it’s a part of me,” she said. But it’s perhaps not so effortless as breathing. “You can’t pursue the arts unless you’re crazy about it and pour all your heart into it. That’s why it’s art ― it’s simple but very complicated. The most difficult thing in art is to make the most simple but the most beautiful thing and realize that life is often the same way.”
Kang is due to tour Korea with the Stuttgart Ballet next June. Visit www.stuttgarter-ballett.de for more information.