SWAN LAKE

Review by Celia Ipiotis

I still remember the day in 2023 when I saw SunMi Park debut in Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate at American Ballet Theater. It was a matinee performance, and when I spotted Wheeldon in the lobby, I asked how he selected Park, a soloist, to assume a principal role. Wheeldon smiled and noted after watching her in class, he felt she was someone special. And she was special.

Three years later, SunMi Park glowed in her debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Partnered by a gallant and strong Thomas Forster as Prince Siegfried, when the swan princess Odette spotted Siegfried by the mystical lake, she froze and then hurriedly fluttered back. Her vulnerability and masterly interpretive skills were immediately palpable. Linking one movement to the next, she pulled on a  never-ending string of motion and emotion. 

A natural actor (clearly demonstrated in Like Water for Chocolate), Park’s expressions melted from her face into her expressive body. Hovering calmly over sustained arabesques and complicated turn sequences, she transformed into a stricken maiden bewitched by a sorcerer and renewed by true love. An endearing partner, Forster, almost twice her height, supported Park with confidence and ease. Very long limbed, Forster exhibited a strong classical technique and sympathy with Park.

Any concerns about Park’s ability to metamorphose into the seductive, commanding Odile were banished the second she appeared on the arm of the evil Rothbart (Sung Woo Ha). Rather than rely on facial expressions, Park filled her body with the tantalizing and lethal charms of Odile. Never missing a beat, she surged into her nearly parallel arabesques. Rapidly creating a magnetic force between them, Odile ran away from Siegfried with lightning speed and then lunged back towards his outstretched arms.

In the final act, she reverts to the heartbroken Odette claims her destiny by throwing herself off the cliff with her true love, Siegfried, right behind her.

Waves of applause poured out until Artistic Director Susan Jaffe strolled onstage and announced the promotion of SunMi Park to Principal Dancer effective in September. Park was overtaken with emotion and the audience shared in her joy.

A memorable night of dance.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis