Hee Seo

For the Goryeo Dynasty diplomat, see Seo Hui.

Hee Seo (Hangul: 서희; hanja: 徐姬; born 13 March 1986) is a South Korean principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. She became the company's first Korean ballerina to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history, and is one of the few principal dancers who worked their way up through the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. She is also one of the youngest dancers in ABT history to be promoted to principal at twenty-six. The New York Times described "her dancing and fluid line [to] exude an unhurried purity that sums up all that is lovely about ballet" and by Vogue as "unspeakably lissome". Her style is noted as being "lyrical and open" and she has been critically acclaimed for her "humility" and "unique feminine strength".

Seo began training in ballet at age twelve, a relatively late start for a ballet student, in Russian ballet. She initially did not have aspirations of becoming a professional ballet dancer, but her talents were quickly identified by her teachers and within a year she was offered full scholarships to study abroad at some of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world. She rose to further prominence after winning prizes at ballet's two most prestigious international ballet competitions: a scholarship and the 2003 Prix de Lausanne Award as well as the Grand Prix at the 2003 Youth America Grand Prix.

She rapidly rose through the ABT Studio Company and joined the full company in May 2005. She was again quickly promoted into the corps de ballet in March 2006 and then to soloist in August 2010 before finally being named as principal dancer in July 2012 by Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of ABT. Her time at ABT has been highlighted by numerous lead roles in classical and contemporary ballet.

Early life

Seo curtain call for Romeo and Juliet, 19 June 2015

Seo was born in Seoul, South Korea. Her mother, aunt, and grandmother all studied fine arts and she, along with her two brothers, studied piano and took swimming lessons. Seo is the middle child in her family and credits her strong relationship with her mother because she did not have a sister.

In school, Seo was the student class president and was offered the opportunity to attended a competition at the Sunhwa Arts School. She had been dancing for six months but had received no formal ballet training. Nonetheless, she entered into the competition and was awarded a scholarship to attend the school. Seo enrolled for one year before leaving to study ballet in a professional training program in the United States. Initially her parents were against her leaving, due to her young age, but were eventually persuaded to let her go by one of her teachers.

Training and professional career

Seo began her formal dance training at age twelve after trying competitive swimming. She has been described as having "the perfect body for ballet". At thirteen, she was awarded a full three year scholarship to study under Alla Sizova at the Kirov Academy of Ballet (formerly the Universal Ballet Academy) in Washington DC. Seo has often stated Sizova was a major influence and mentor in her life. Jacqueline Akhmedova was one of her teachers and helped train her for competitions. Akhmedova said, "Seo [was] the best student she has ever had".

Seo won the 2003 Prix de Lausanne Award in Switzerland and was offered a scholarship by Reid Anderson to attend the John Cranko Schule. That same year, Seo won the Grand Prix at the 2003 Youth America Grand Prix. John Meehan asked her to join the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in the following year where she stayed until joining American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in May 2005.

Seo described her transition to ABT as being difficult in the beginning. She had trained under the Russian syllabus at Cranko and needed to make the transition to the "American style". Seo noted that "the ABT style is to leave the dancers alone. Individual character matters here, and dance that lacks originality cannot survive". Seo credits her ability to adapt to her mentors at the time who also helped her overcome a serious back injury. In March 2006, she was promoted to the rank of corps de ballet. She gained significant attention in 2009 when she performed the female lead in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, La Sylphide, and On the Dnieper. She debuted as Juliet on her twenty-third birthday which she has said was "one of [her] favorites".

She became a soloist in August 2010 and principal dancer in July 2012. At the time, she become the first Korean ballerina and one of the youngest dancer's in ABT's 75-year history, age twenty-six, to be promoted to principal dancer. Julia Moon, the Ballet Director of Universal Ballet, said that "Seo has an incredible talent, not just in dancing but also acting. I have never doubted that someday she would become a principal dancer at ABT". Seo has been noted for her "lyrical and open" style and "unique feminine strength".

In an interview with Pointe Magazine, Seo said that she "prefers the mental and physical challenge of full-length ballets over repertory works". Seo shortly had the opportunity at several full-lengths when in her second year as principal, three of ABT's senior principal ballerinas announced their retirement suddenly putting Seo at the front of the line for many of the lead roles. She has said her most challenging ballet was Swan Lake, a ballet noriously difficult for its 32 fouettés and the lead ballerina having to dance the two contrasting in personality roles of Odette, the White Swan, and Odile, the Black Swan.

Seo dances on Bloch pointe shoes and also models for the company. In an interview with the The Wall Street Journal, Seo stated that she "carries three to six new pairs a day and alternates them in class and rehearsals to break them in" and that she "can go through a pair a day once the shoes become too soft to support her feet". Seo also noted that in her dance bag, she carries around "two perfume bottles: Acqua di Parma Rosa Nobile and Penhaligon's Ellenisia."

Her performances are currently sponsored by Pamela and David B. Ford.

Roles and repertoire at ABT

• Polyhymnia in Apollo
• Nikiya, Gamzatti, the Lead D'Jampe and a Shade in La Bayadère
• Cinderella in Frederick Ashton's Cinderella (Ashton)
• Twig in James Kudelka's Cinderella (Prokofiev)
• Prayer in Coppélia
• Mercedes and a flower girl in Don Quixote
• the Glove Seller in Gaîté Parisienne
• Giselle and Zulma in Giselle
• Caroline in Jardin aux Lilas
• Olympia in John Neumeier's The Lady of the Camellias
• The Moor's Wife in The Moor's Pavane
• Natalia Petrovna in Frederick Ashton's A Month in the Country
• Clara, the Princess and one of the Nutcracker's Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker

Seo and Jared Matthews curtain call for Don Quixote, 17 May 2014

• Natalia in On the Dnieper
• Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin
• Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet
• Princess Aurora, the Lilac Fairy, the Fairy of Sincerity and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty
• Odette-Odile, the pas de trois, the Polish Princess and a big swan in Swan Lake
• the Sylph in August Bournonville's La Sylphide
• the Prelude in Les Sylphides
• Ceres in Sylvia
• Frederick Ashton's Thaïs Pas de Deux

Seo's other ballets include George Balanchine's Ballo della Regina, Frederick Ashton's Birthday Offering, Twyla Tharp's The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Alexei Ratmansky's Chamber Symphony, Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies, Mark Morris's Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Merce Cunningham's Duets, Benjamin Millepied's From Here On Out, Antony Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading, Jiří Kylián's Overgrown Path, Marius Petipa's Raymonda Divertissements, Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas and Christopher Wheeldon's Thirteen Diversions. She is also credited with creating a leading role in Liam Scarlett's With a Chance of Rain.

External links

• Dancer Bio at American Ballet Theatre