Flying high in ballet capital
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Park Sae-eun is one of a handful of Asian dancers at the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet. / Courtesy of SebastienMathe
Park Sae-eun: Dancing her way up to perfection
This is third in a interview series with Europe-based Korean dancers. — Ed.
By Rachel Sang-hee Han
PARIS — Paris is the city of lights, shopping capital and the home of the some of the world’s best desserts. It’s also known for the arts, history and ballet. The Paris Opera Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies in the world, along with the Royal Ballet in London and the American Ballet Theater.
But unlike many other renowned ballet companies, the Paris Opera Ballet is public, which means there can only be a number of foreigners. Only the best and the luckiest dancers make it into the very well respected company and one of them happens to be Park Sae-eun.
Surviving Paris
It was a cold, windy Saturday night when I was scheduled to meet the 25-year-old in front of the ballet company. I was waiting near the performers’ entrance and like clockwork, dancers started to walk out the company at 7 p.m. Some looked tired, exhausted, others excited and glad, considering it was the start of a weekend. It took some time to spot Park, who came out still dressed in her trainers and looking quite exhausted.
She led me to the cafeteria, excusing herself for looking so tired.
“It’s that busiest time of the year. This December, I am performing as the main character in ‘La Source’ and a part in a corps de ballet in another performance, plus there’s also the promotion competition,” she said.
Park Sae-eun will appear as Naila the nymph in the performance “La Source.” Naila sacrifices herself to help her true love to find his own secret love interest. / Courtesy of Julin Benhamou
Park joined the ballet company in 2011 and made headlines back in October when she landed the position of soloistafter two years. The Paris Opera Ballet is one of the very few companies where promotions are carried out as a competition. It’s very public, in fact, people can purchase tickets to watch the coveted competition.
“It’s when everyone in the ballet company becomes very competitive. It may seem a bit harsh to compete so intensively with your own colleagues, but if you think about it, it means the company is willing to offer an equal opportunity to everyone. It’s fair and the dancer who is the best to ‘win’ the spot. If the judges can’t decide, they can even skip a position for that year,” Park said.
When it comes to colleagues it seemed there was a rather steep learning curve. Especially in terms of fellow ballerinas.
“You can really feel the intensity and power of French women. When I first started dancing here, they were all nice, but you could feel that tension. There would be misunderstandings and like any other Asian, I would worry and get really stressed about others’ behavior and remarks, but I learned to be tough. It was mostly a cultural thing: I’ve learned to understand the different cultural traits and this has helped me a lot.”
Located in the heart of Paris, the PalaisGarnier is one of the top opera houses in Europe and houses over 1,900 seats. / Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Delagarde
The perks of being Parisian
The currently running performance “La Source” is a romantic ballet that premiered in Paris in 1866. It was originally choreographed by Arthur Saint- Léon and has been recreated by Jean-Guillaume Bart, a fellow Etoile, or principal, dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet.
Park will play the main heroine Naila, a nymph who goes through a heartbreaking love story revolving a young hunter and his secret love interest Nouredda who is destined to marry a king. News that Park was assigned the role hit local news outlets and for a good reason: She became the first Asian to lead a performance as the main role in the 345-year history of the Paris Opera Ballet.
“A colleague gave me some hints about the role, but I had to wait until I finally got the official news. Of course, I was thrilled and surprised but now, as you can see, I’m working hard to bring the best performance and live up to the expectations,” she said, laughing.
Living in the heart of Paris, anyone would think a young, passionate dancer would never be bored. Top department stores such as Galeries Lafayette and Printemps are close by, not to mention stylish boutiques, museums and galleries. But in the contrary, Park replied she didn’t go out that often after rehearsals and trainings.
“I actually like to stay at home. I sometimes go to watch movies but I mostly like to stay at home. We also like to do galas in smaller French cities, so that’s my way of traveling and experiencing different cities in the country.”
Unlike many other companies around Europe where most of the audience members are locals, the Paris Opera Ballet is one of the most popular tourist attractions and this, according to Park, can be a very interesting experience as a traveler.
“We tend to do the same performance in a longer period of time, mostly 20 to 25 times per performance. This means you can watch different dancers performing the same role. It’s a unique opportunity if you happen to be in Paris and also like ballet.”
Ballet: all day, every day
My first impression of Park was the stereotypical description of a ballerina: soft speaking, fragile and feminine. But after two hours of talking, touring the theater and laughing about her past few years as a newcomer, it turned out she didn’t quite fit the petite, fragile image I had in my mind. She was a fighter and a true ballerina who knew exactly where she was going.
“I think France fits me well. For instance, the French tend to prefer smaller, quieter gatherings opposed to big, loud parties. The can be cold, strict, sometimes rude and painfully honest, but they are also straightforward, never leave a grudge and are very strong and emotional people,” she said.
Patience is also something that comes naturally at the Paris Opera Ballet as they have so many repertoires that you have to wait four to five years to dance the same performance. Annual programs are different every year and the company itself has so many famous and interesting works in its realm, such as “Sleeping Beauty,” various versions of “Giselle” and the modern performance “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.”
“And because the company is not afraid to roll out both new and old works, it’s a great opportunity for me as a dancer to work with the masters of the ballet world. It’s quite an honor,” Park said.
When I lastly asked if she ever felt lonely during her time here in Paris, Park led out a deep sigh and smiled.
“It’s so, very lonely. You cannot imagine how lonely it can be. But I am very grateful that the company took me in only based on my dance skills. My French isn’t even that great yet,” Park said. Her French later turned out to be superb, which I noticed when she was talking with her fellow dancers during the backstage tour.
Lonely it may have been, but for Park, her years in Paris seemed to have given her one of the best, yet painful, gifts in her career.
“When I was dancing in the U.S., I was so happy. The performances were great and so were my friends and my colleagues. My overall life was so great and I was happy,” she said.
“But when I came to Europe, everything changed. Everyone was thinking about ballet all day, everyday. I have never thought about ballet this way this much in my life. It’s not just about enjoying it, but delving deeper into it. And the funny thing is, I have never grown so much as a dancer. Everyone, including myself, push themselves to the limit and this has become a habit,” Park explained.
After explaining how ridiculous it is to think about ballet the entire day and going home thinking about the past day of dances, steps and rehearsals, Park paused and led out another short sigh.
“I’m planning to stay as long as a I can,” she finally said laughing.