Hee Seo

Had you ever been to America?
No, never. That was my first time taking a flight.

What did your parents say?
My parents were like, “You’re not going anywhere.” I was so young. [Laughs] I wasn’t really wanting to go or anything, but because my mom said no, I wanted to go. My teacher convinced my parents, and they let me.

How did you like the school? The training?
I hated it. It was really, really hard. All of the teachers are Russians, and they’re so strict. If you see them, even on the street—not even the hallway of the school—you have to do a little curtsy. I don’t cry anymore. I think because I cried during the three years when I was in the school. But I had friends there. I had a good time, and the training was the greatest. I was so far behind; everybody else had trained for years and years and I had just gone to the arts school in Korea. I didn’t know the names of the steps. One day I cried and told my mom, “I need a private lesson or something to catch up.” And she was like, “If you cannot even follow the school, the private lesson will not help you.” [Laughs] We had a dance exam twice a year, and during that time everybody would get a private lesson and buy a new leotard, new tights, new pointe shoes and my mom wouldn’t go there. So I never had a private lesson. But I guess because I started late, I could see steps and absorb everything faster than as a little kid.

Did your friends help you? Did you have friends like that?
When I was in Seoul, I didn’t have any friends. They were all from the same ballet studio; they had been together for years and then they grew up together, so they were already friends. There are two major studios where kids are raised to go to the arts school. If you are not from one of these two studios, you are just so out. I was the only one who wasn’t from one of these two studios. So I didn’t have any friends for a year.

You were the butterfly.
[Laughs] I was the butterfly! It was really sad. Before the exam, I talked to my mom. There were 19 of us and I told her, “I don’t know if I’m going to be 19th or 18th.” There was one guy and 18 girls and I didn’t know if I was going to be the last-scored girl or if he would be the last-scored guy. But then surprisingly, I was the first one. No way, right?

I’ll bet you made more friends that way.
I did. But then I was like, They are so mean. Ballet girls are all like that. They weren’t even talking to me because I was bad and after I did something, they were like, “Oh, you’re our friend.” I just kind of have a “whatever” personality. I was like, Okay, whatever.

Were you especially close to any teachers?
Madame [Alla] Sizova [at Universal Ballet Academy]. She’s my role model. She was a prima ballerina at the Kirov. She taught me a lot, not just about dancing. I have one little story. She has such a sweet personality, she’s such a sweet woman, so whenever people had a bad day and would cry in class, she would be very sweet about it and say, “Don’t worry, it will get better” and blah blah. And one day I was having a bad day and I cried, and she kicked me out of the class. The next day I found myself sitting in the dean’s office with Madame Sizova and the artistic director, and I was like, “Aren’t you supposed to be sweet about me, too?” But what they were saying was that if people are looking at you, then you cannot really show your emotions because people will let you down. You’re like 13, 14 years old. How could you understand? But what they meant was that you have to always be prepared, always be strong, always be on top of everything so that way, people can look up at you. I really realized that is so important. Not because I’m a good or great dancer but that’s how you’re supposed to hold yourself and I always keep that in my mind. They taught me so many things. Her son died, so she had to go back to Russia. Since then I haven’t seen her. I would love to see her. She is my teacher.

Why did you leave the academy?
I went to Stuttgart because I did another competition, the Prix de Lausanne. I won a prize and I got to go wherever I wanted; I chose Stuttgart. Actually, I wasn’t really thinking about where I wanted to go, but the director of the Stuttgart Ballet asked me to join the company.

Reid Anderson?
Yes. So I was like, “Oh, okay!” I was 16 then. From 17, you can go to the company, but since I was 16 I only could go to the school. But I did performances and rehearsed with the company. Mr. Anderson was very generous with me and he let me do a lot of work with the company. I did Swan Lake and Giselle. They are doing a lot of John Cranko’s stuff. They do the Cranko version of Swan Lake and it is so beautiful. The Black Swan, how she acts is a little different, but it makes a huge difference in the ballet.

You left Germany—to do what?
To join ABT Studio Company. I had done another competition: Youth America Grand Prix. So that’s where I got the contract. I chose to go to Stuttgart. Then [former ABT Studio Company director] John Meehan called me in January and said, “Come to ABT.” And I said yes. [Smiles] He was a judge for the Prix de Lausanne for the next year and I met up with him in Switzerland, and I signed my contract. I love John. When I was in the Studio Company, I didn’t know why, but I was going through such a rough time. There was a period of a month where we were at White Oak, and we were learning a new Brian Reeder ballet and a lot of exciting things, but I just had no motivation. One day, John pulled me out of the rehearsal and we just talked. And I don’t know why but I just cried with John and everything kind of went back to normal. So in that sense, I feel really comfortable and I feel very calm with John. I feel like he’s my dad. He’s the one who actually brought me to New York.

What was going on when you were so unmotivated? Was the Studio Company too American? The people or the system?
Maybe I was stressed and holding everything inside and not able to let it out. The system—I wasn’t very adapted to the American style of dancing because I was in the Russian school and I went to Stuttgart for a year. And maybe I wasn’t the dancer that they wanted in a way. I could not do a fast jump. I was not used to seeing those steps. [Shrugs] I don’t know.

You got into the company fairly quickly.
I really appreciate the artistic staff of ABT. I didn’t do the Met season, because my ankle wasn’t good, so I didn’t expect them to take me in the company, but they did. Last spring, I had a back injury for a long, long time. After that injury, the first role they gave to me was Peasant pas, which really only the soloists are doing. I was a corps member, but that was the first thing they gave to me for the comeback show—but because of my back, I could not even do it.

What was wrong with your back?
They never figured out. I think it is kind of a lifetime injury. Once your back is bad, you just live with it. Kevin [McKenzie] is so helpful and positive with me. He helped me a lot and I love to rehearse with him; he knows so much. He is like a big library, but he doesn’t do like, “Okay in this part it’s like this so you have to do this, this and that.” Instead of saying something, he can just make a facial expression, and you understand everything. And he doesn’t talk about his perspective, but my perspective of dance. One correction I got during Romeo and Juliet was during third act. When I dance and when I have to act I don’t really put things in a word, like “sad” or “happy.” Sometimes human emotions cannot be explained, right? So I have a good image of what I wanted to be, a clear image, but I don’t necessarily put it into words. And I guess it wasn’t very clear with him. He told me, “In the third act, everybody wants you to do something, so you’re like a caged animal.” And ta-da! That’s it. He makes everything so clear.

NEXT

See more in Dance