La Bayadere
Another very fine evening.
Sae Eun Park -- Nikiya
[Park Sae-eun according to The Korean Times]
She is an extremely lovely, endearing and talented artist.
My heart went out to her as I felt that she had to face as many performance challenges as her character, Nikiya, had to face life challenges.
She did it beautifully !
A quick search of the internet gives very little information about her. At the Festivals all the guest leads that I can recall have been Principals, but I don’t know Sae Eun Park’s exact ranking. I did find out from a somewhat confusing description in a January 1, 2015 article that….
“Park joined the ballet company [Paris Opera Ballet] in 2011 and made headlines back in October when she landed the position of soloist after two years.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/cu ... 70934.html She is a tiny lady from another culture (Korea). Last night she was dancing among some of the finest in the world from another land in a somewhat different style.
Vladimir Ponomarev towered over her as the High Priest who lusted for her. Still, she made herself his equal in stage presence. Alongside Anastasia Matvienko, also noticeably taller and extremely beautiful and imposing as the Rajah’s daughter, she maintained an equally impressive presence with compelling and culturally believable response. With her fine partner, Vladimir Shklyarov, she was comfortable in size and manner.
She’s not an expansive dancer and her upper body moves aren’t extremely refined and expressive in the Mariinsky manner, both often very helpful to a more petite ballerina. Yet her style was lovely and compelling among the other taller, poetically expressive and highly graceful dancers. She fit in just fine.
She showed total confidence as she was lifted numerous times into what must have been staggering heights for such a petite lady. All this was done with wonderfully statuesque positioning. Her dancing was very proficient with fine jumps and spins, the spins often accomplished with great speed.
At the end of a beautifully performed evening she was warmly and enthusiastically received by a full house with four or five curtain calls.
Vladimir Shklyarov was a very fine and supportive partner. He accomplished his usual launchings into outer space with great effect, but always maintained a sense of respect for his partner’s delicate presence.
Anastasia Matvienko was as beautiful as ever. After Vladimir Shklyarov’s Act II round of magnificent jumps she held her own very well with her impressive jumps and spins.
As usual the Act III chorus of Shade dancers was absolute stage magic.
Added:
In response to my question at Dansomanie, Florestiano replied that Sae Eun Park is a Sujet (highest corps de ballet level), after which comes a Première Danseuse and then an Etoile (Principal). This will be the first time that I know of that a guest non Principal, let alone a non soloist, has performed a lead at a Mariinsky Festival. Congratuations to her for this and for such a fine performance. [Actually I do now recall one other]