Korean Dancer Wins World's Top Ballet Award

Published on 2018/06/10 | Source

Park Sae-eun /Yonhap

Ballerina Park Sae-eun of the Paris Opera Ballet won the award for best female dancer at the Benois de la Danse at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on Tuesday.

"It feels like a dream. I can't believe it", she exclaimed.

Park is the fourth Korean ballerina to win the award after Kang Sue-jin in 1999, Kim Joo-won in 2006, and Kim Ki-min in 2016. She competed against five other top ballerinas from the world-famous ballet troupes.

The Benois was founded in honor of French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810) by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991.

The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the world. Founded in 1669, it has produced the most laureates of the Benois de la Danse of any troupe at 16. Foreign members make up just five percent.

A graduate of the Korea National University of Arts, Park became the first Korean to join the company in 2011 and was promoted to premier danseur in 2016.

"I've been living in Paris for seven years now, but because ballet is all I think about, I haven't even been up the Eiffel Tower", she said. All of the dancers in the highest "étoile" level in the Paris Opera Ballet are French, but Park is touted as a strong candidates to break that nationality barrier.

"I've never thought about reaching that level, but I think now I can dream about it", she said. "I will leave the tour of the Eiffel Tower for now so that I can go there on a special day with a special person".