Interview: Kim Kimin

It’s one of the final rehearsals before the big reveal but you won’t see nervous dancers in the Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre. Even though their poses and steps are scrutinised under the careful attention of the eagle-eyed art director, ballet master, and ballet mistress, the theatre is not filled with tense energy. Rather, the atmosphere is laid-back, with dancers lounging on the audience floor in the dark, chatting with each other on the stage wings, and joking around onstage while waiting for their cue.

But once the cue is given and Tchaikovsky’s famous score for The Swan Lake begins, it’s back to business and all you can hear apart from the music are the soft thuds of feet landing on the floor as dancers leap elegantly across the stage. At the head of the cast is Kim Kimin from the world-famous Mariinsky Ballet, who is guest-starring as Prince Siegfried for two shows of this year’s Swan Lake season by The Hong Kong Ballet.

It’s a busy week for Kim, who has yet to explore Hong Kong outside of Tsim Sha Tsui. His calendar is so packed with endless rehearsals and practises that when his father suggested going to Victoria Peak, he was too tired to venture out. “But I still want to go out and do something before I leave,” he said with a wistful smile.

Even when the rehearsal is over for the rest of the cast, he stays behind with his partner (the graceful Zhang Siyuan), the ballet master, and the art director to go through some final minute details of their pas de deux.

When he finally arrived for our video interview in his dressing room, straight after the gruelling rehearsal, he’s decked out in the prince’s elaborate black-and-gold jacket.

“I thought it would look better for the camera if I wore Siegfried’s costume,” he said.

From the waist up, Kim might resemble a regal prince, but his bottom half betrays his young age and preference for comfort: he’s barefooted and in his purple striped tracksuit.

He might not look like it with all his accolades and prizes from international ballet competitions, but at just 20-years-old, he’s still a 90’s kid (and a fan of Jackie Chan). However, unlike his peers who pepper their talk with words like “YOLO” or other street slang, his speech is formal, polite, and with touches of charming simplicity. Even his philosophy to dancing is simple yet reflects his passion and dedication to the art.

“I don’t think of anything when I dance,” he confessed. “If I’m dancing to Swan Lake, then I only think about Siegfried.” He alludes to it as a sort of blacking out, when he becomes so focused on his character that he sometimes forgets whether he has made mistakes or not during his performances. “I just pay more attention to how much I’ve embodied the character and how much I’ve delivered that character to the audience,” he said.

When he’s not Siegfried, the soft-spoken Korean still finds time to joke around with his fellow cast mates and his Odette. “I haven’t partnered with a lot of other people, but [Zhang] is a dancer who can let her partner feel at ease and doesn’t give the guy added pressure,” he said, complimenting her style and technique. “She makes everything easy and I’m always thankful for [that].”

Even though he hardly knows any English, let alone Chinese, language isn’t a barrier for Kim. With the Mariinsky Ballet, he spent his last two years in Russia, a foreign country with a foreign tongue that was alien to him.

“At first it was really difficult,” he confessed. The new language, people, and environment made it hard for him to adapt quickly. But little by little, he began to adjust and even win recognition from the theatre and the public. “Now, I’m enjoying ballet life,” he said with a smile.

Kim is currently a first soloist for the Mariinsky Ballet, the same place where notables such as Mathilde Kschessinska, Anna Pavlova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov danced to fame, and ballet legends like Marius Petipa resided as director. So one could safely assume that Kim has big dreams for his future. But the young Kim is taking things in small steps and admits that for the time being, he’s happy with where he is – dancing with the Mariinsky Ballet.

“Right now, my goal isn’t to become the best ballerino – that’s everyone’s dream. I want to be a ballerino who can touch the audience’s hearts,” he said.

Watch the video above for exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsals for Swan Lake.

Videography by Tyrone Wu