Her achievement is also significant for those championing diversity, especially because she is one of the two foreign-born étoiles currently associated with the company.Īs part of the Paris Opera Ballet, she has performed in John Cranko’s Onegin as Tatiana and Nureyev’s Swan Lake as Odette/Odile. Her inclination towards ballet developed at a very young age.Īt the Paris Opera Ballet, she rose through the company’s ranks by winning its gruelling competitions.
Park was born in 1989 in Seoul to a pianist mother while her father was an executive at the Korean tech giant Samsung. It symbolised Park’s years of patience, skill, perfection and determination since joining the Paris Opera Ballet - the world’s oldest ballet institution - just over a decade ago. When the 31-year-old Korean dancer was announced as the top ballerina following her performance as the female lead in Romeo And Juliet at Opera Bastille, Park cried with joy as the audience delivered a standing ovation. With this announcement, Park became the first Asian dancer to be given the highest title in the Paris Opera Ballet’s 352-year history.
On 10 June, 2021, the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet (POB) named South Korean ballet icon Sae Eun Park as the danseuse étoile, or principal dancer.
