hankyoreh

26

By Park Bo-mi, staff reporter

“I always feel something missing after the curtain falls, thinking I could have performed much better.”

Even though everybody cheers and applauds her, she still feels that something is lacking. Almost every day, she gets upset when her body doesn’t follow her mind.

Recently, Seo Hee, 26, was appointed principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), becoming the first Korean to do so. She has been recognized as one of the world’s best ballerinas, but still pushes herself like a student who just started dancing.

On July 18, Seo gave an interview at Seoul Art Center. She will be on stage as the lead role in Giselle, which will be shown from July 18 to 22.

“I didn’t expect to be appointed a principal dancer,” said Seo, humbly. “It was a day when we had a meeting of all ABT members. Art director Kevin Mackenzie suddenly called me to have a one-to-one talk and told me that I had advanced. I was so surprised.”

It had been 7 years since Seo joined ABT as an apprentice in May 2005. Seo became a member of the corps de ballet in March 2006, which doesn’t perform solo, and was promoted to Soloist in August 2010. On July 2, 2012, she was appointed a principal dancer, after only 2 years as a Soloist.

Among 17 principal dancers in ABT, she is the only Asian. It was a surprise promotion, before ABT came to Korea. Everybody praises her on a fast track, but she said she actually had suffered a lot, and even considered quitting dancing.

Seo started ballet later than most other dancers, in her 6th year of elementary school. She left Korea in middle school, and learned dancing from Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington DC and the John Cranko School of Stuttgart Ballet in Germany.

“I had the hardest time when I was in the corps de ballet at ABT. I hardly had a chance to dance. It took several years only to get a role of lining at the back of the stage,” said Seo. “It was hard because I had to continue dancing, without anything guaranteed for the future.”

Seo said she was always pleased when she became a soloist, because she could get more opportunities to perform. Now, she can recall the memories of two years as soloist happily, but it was really a hard time for her due to injury. She couldn’t dance at all for 4 months after she tore a ligament while practicing for ‘the Nutcracker’.

“The doctor said I needed surgery and it would take more than a year to recover completely. I was so upset that I didn’t care about myself as a dancer, but I tried hard with my remedial exercise with a pleasant mind and recovered quite soon. Fortunately, I didn’t even need surgery anymore,” said Seo.

Art Director Mackenzie, who has led ABT since 1992, said, “Seo Hee has an amazing body condition, but she also has a rich emotional expression, which is required for classical works.”

He added, “She already proved a distinctive talent and that’s why we promoted her to principal dancer. Especially her emotional sense goes so well with a role Giselle.”

Seo already was applauded at the New York performance of Giselle, but this is the first time for her to be on stage as Giselle in Korea.

“I’m quite nervous because I know how much the audiences are expecting of me,” Seo said. Among the 8 shows of ‘Giselle’ this time, she will appear on 19, and will be on 21 and 22.

principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

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