Sae Eun
Park

Benois de la Danse laureate

Sae Eun Park was born in Seoul, where she began her dance education at the Academy of theKorea National ballet when she was ten years old.She graduated from the Korea National University of Arts (under Margarita Kulik, Jae Shin Lee and Sun Hee Kim).

Park joined American Ballet Theatre 2 in New York on a two-year apprentice scholarship from the 2007 Prix de Lausanne. In May 2009, Park joinedthe Korea National Ballet Company as a member ofthe corps de ballet. She was promoted to Soloist in January 2010.

Her performances include Grigorovich’s The Nutcracker (Marie); Swan Lake (Odette/Odile); Don Quixote (Kitri); and La Bayadere (Nikia).

In 2011 Park had a contract for one season at the Paris Opera, but a year later she was invited to join the corps de ballet at the level ofQuadrille. Within three months she was raised to Coryphée.In 2014 Park was promoted to Sujet and in 2017 to Premiere Danseuse.She made her debut at the Mariinsky Ballet Theatre with La Bayadere dancing Nikia (2015).

Her awards includePrix de dance de Cercle Carpeaux by the Paris Opera Ballet Company, a gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2010, first prizeat the Rome Competition in 2010, and first prize at the Prix de Lausanne. In 2007 she was awarded a junior silver medal at the USAInternational Ballet Competition in Jackson and the senior silver medal at theBeijing International Ballet Competition in 2006.

Her repertoire includes Swan Lake (Odette/Odile, the pas de trois, big swan); Don Quixote (Driad Queen, flower girl); Sleeping Beauty (Princess Florine); Jean Guillaume Bart’s La Source (Naila); Alexei Ratmansky’s  Seven Sonatas; Justin Peck’s Entre Chien et Loup; John Neumeier’s Le Chant de la terre; and John Cranko's Onegin (Tatiana).

She has also performed in George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night’s Dream (divertissement pas de deux from Act II); Mozartiana (title role); Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (third movement); Jewels (Diamond, Emerald second pas de deux); and Agon (pas de deux).