[On Stage] 'Like a Pure Romance Comic Hero' Male and Female Ballet Dancers Perform Together After 14 Years

Paris Opera Ballet's Park Se-eun and Mariinsky Ballet's Kim Ki-min
Lead roles in 'La Bayad?re'... First time since 2010
Kim Ki-min: "Followed my sister to dance when I was young"
Park Se-eun: "Honored to perform with a superstar... Proud to tell my colleagues"

Park Se-eun (35), an ?toile (principal dancer) of the Paris Opera Ballet, and Kim Ki-min (32), principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet, are currently the leading male and female ballet dancers representing Korea. They will perform in the National Ballet of Korea's production of La Bayad?re at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center on November 1 and 3. They will take on two of the five performances of La Bayad?re. It has been 14 years since the two last danced together, back when they were rising stars in the Korean ballet scene in 2010. Coincidentally, the last production they performed together was also La Bayad?re. In a roundtable interview held on the 27th at the Seoul Arts Center, Park Se-eun and Kim Ki-min shared stories of their childhoods that resembled characters from a pure romance comic.

"Since I was young, I always followed my sister around, asking her to dance with me. When she was attending the Korea National University of Arts (KNUA) School of Dance, I was still in elementary school. My sister was classmates with my older brother (Kim Ki-min's older brother is Kim Ki-gwan, currently principal dancer of the National Ballet of Korea) at KNUA. Whenever there were classes at KNUA, I would follow my brother. So I was the younger brother who always followed my sister around, asking to dance together." (Kim Ki-min)

"When you’re young, even a one-year age difference feels big. When I was 14, he was 11, and he really looked like a baby. I danced continuously with Ki-min and Ki-gwan (Kim Ki-gwan), but at some point, the baby-like friend grew up and we ended up dancing together." (Park Se-eun)

Se-eun Park, Etoile (principal dancer, left) of the Paris Opera Ballet, and Ki-min Kim, principal dancer of the Russian Mariinsky Ballet [Photo by National Ballet Company]

Kim Ki-min fulfilled his dream of dancing with his older sister when he was 17 in 2009, and she was 20. That December, they were cast as leads side by side in the National Ballet of Korea's production of Swan Lake. It was a sensation as the youngest lead couple in the history of Korean ballet. At that time, Park Se-eun had just joined the National Ballet of Korea in the spring after ending her time with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) II. Kim Ki-min was a sophomore at KNUA, having gained attention by winning second place in the junior division of the Moscow Ballet Competition in May of that year.

"It was an incredible happiness for me. My peers were very jealous. Dancing with my sister was every male dancer’s dream, and I was the first to achieve it." (Kim Ki-min)

In the following year, 2010, they performed together consecutively in Don Quixote in August and La Bayad?re in October. Don Quixote was part of the Seoul International Ballet Festival hosted by the Korean Ballet Association, and La Bayad?re was an encore performance commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Universal Ballet.

After that, they were unable to perform together. In 2011, Park Se-eun joined the Paris Opera Ballet, and Kim Ki-min joined the Mariinsky Ballet. They had hoped to have the opportunity to perform together someday at either the Paris Opera Ballet or the Mariinsky Ballet, but it has not happened yet.

Both the Paris Opera Ballet and the Mariinsky Ballet are recognized as the world’s top companies. The two have rewritten Korean ballet history by reaching the pinnacle in these world-class companies. Park Se-eun became the first Asian ?toile of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2021, ten years after joining as a semi-soloist in 2011. Kim Ki-min became the first Asian principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet just four years after joining as the first Asian member of the company.

They have also consecutively received the prestigious 'Benois de la Danse' awards, often called the Oscars of the ballet world. Kim Ki-min won the Benois de la Danse Best Male Dancer Award in 2016, the first and still the only Korean male ballet dancer to do so. Park Se-eun received the Benois de la Danse Best Female Dancer Award in 2018, becoming the third Korean ballerina to win after Kang Sue-jin, director and artistic director of the National Ballet of Korea (1999), and Kim Joo-won, artistic director of the Busan Opera House Ballet (2006).

For Kim Ki-min, La Bayad?re holds a special meaning as the work that brought him the Benois de la Danse honor. He performed La Bayad?re with the Paris Opera Ballet in December 2015 and received the award.

Kim Ki-min said that at that time, he was suffering the most serious injury of his career. The injury was so severe that he had to cancel performances in China before the Paris Opera Ballet shows.

"I thought I wouldn’t be able to perform even at the Paris Opera Ballet. But I really wanted to. Because I thought, when else would I get to dance with such an amazing ballet company again? So I really wanted to dance. At that time, my sister took care of me a lot, buying medicine every day."

Park Se-eun said that when she recalls that time, she thinks Kim Ki-min was not human. "After Ki-min finished the performance and left, the male dancer colleagues watched videos of his performance and admired how he performed so excellently despite being injured."

La Bayad?re premiered in 1877 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, by the Mariinsky Ballet. As a signature work of the Mariinsky, Kim Ki-min has performed it countless times. He said he might have reached 100 performances of La Bayad?re.

Se-eun Park, Etoile (principal dancer, left) of the Paris Opera Ballet, and Ki-min Kim, principal dancer of the Russian Mariinsky Ballet [Photo by National Ballet Company]

On the other hand, this will be Park Se-eun’s fourth time performing the role. After the 2010 Universal Ballet encore performance, she appeared representing the Paris Opera Ballet in the Mariinsky Ballet’s production in March 2015, and performed again with the Paris Opera Ballet in April 2022.

Park Se-eun said, "It feels like dancing with a friend who knows the test answers," adding that she is receiving a lot of help by asking Kim Ki-min many questions.

"I am really excited just to practice with Ki-min, who has performed La Bayad?re countless times, while I had only studied it superficially. I think I can learn a lot. The Paris Opera Ballet will probably perform La Bayad?re again in two years, and I believe I will be able to portray a more mature and confident Nikiya then."

Currently, both are performing with their respective companies during the season but are making time to appear on stage for La Bayad?re. Kim Ki-min had just returned from a performance in China and came straight to the Seoul Arts Center for the interview from Incheon Airport.

"Honestly, I came because I’m doing it with Ki-min. Just as our generation grew up watching Rudolf Nureyev (1938?1993, legendary Russian dancer), now ballet hopefuls are growing up watching Kim Ki-min. It’s an honor to perform with such a global superstar. I bragged to my colleagues at the Paris Opera Ballet that I’m performing with Kim Ki-min." (Park Se-eun)

"La Bayad?re is one of my favorite works. I really wanted to perform it in Korea. And I get to do it with my sister. From my perspective, I’ve caught both La Bayad?re and Park Se-eun." (Kim Ki-min)