Sophie Parczen joined the corps de ballet in 1998, after training in Hungary, where, at the time, the teaching methods were still very like those in Russia.  For Dansomanie, Sophie has kindly agreed to tell us of her youth at Budapest, and what led her to France.  

Sophie Parczen : A Dancer’s Journey

Présentation

I am Hungarian, born at Budapest, where I entered the Opera School at the age of ten.  I had already been studying privately.  Then, for two years, I took the Opera School classes with a view to joining the School.  As a rule, the full course of study takes nine years, the final year spent on preparing the examination to enter the Opera ballet.  But once I’d done eight years, I asked leave to go abroad, went to France, and entered the Seventh Concours de Paris.  I reached the semi-finals, and took advantage of my stay to attend auditions then being held by the Jeune Ballet de France.  One evening, the telephone rang, and I learnt that I’d been accepted, which is how it came about that I remained at Paris.

It is hard though, to leave one’s country, family and friends.  And there was the language question!  At school, I’d learnt English, not French.  What is more, I tend to be shy and reserved.  But the moment I moved to France there was so much to do, I was so busy, that I had little time to worry over anything else !

But back to the beginning … 

Erzsébet Dvorszky and the Russian tradition

At the Opera School in Budapest, I studied with several teachers, including Erzsébet Dvorszky, who had trained in Russia and spent some years at the Bolshoi, and with whom I remain in touch.  She taught the Vaganova school.  At Budapest in those days, there were many Russian teachers, as well as Russian répétiteurs at the Opera ballet.  Contact with Russia was of course, very tight, and the presence of all those Russian teachers enabled us to train up some very good soloists.

Erzsébet Dvorszky was a great, great help to me.  I discovered her in my third year of studies, and it was she who helped me to correct a great many flaws.  By that time, the Russians no longer held professorships at the Opera School, but they were often invited to work with the upper forms.  I recall that Boris Bregvadzé (a former soloist with the Maryinksii Theatre – editors’note) spent a year at Budapest working with one of the men’s classes. 

Life at the Opera School

At Budapest, the School is located just across the road from the Opera, but, oddly enough, there is little real contact between the students and the troupe, unlike Paris, where, despite the move to Nanterre, the students are still very close to life in the theatre.  Nonetheless, I did take part in some shows, such as The Nutcracker, that I was allowed to dance at the Opera.  During our last two years’ study, the classes were held at the Opera itself.  After school, the soloists would occasionally come over to speak with us, but I must say that our relations always remained quite formal and respectful, not the sort of “chummy” terms one readily gets onto here at Paris.  The relationship between students and professors are markedly more distant than here in France, nor do we have the «petits parents» system in Hungary.  As I’ve said, we’d rarely go to the Opera, unless we were dancing ourselves in a show.  Only after our eight year of studies did we really begin to join into theatre life.

There was a competition held at the School every year.  The jury was made up of soloists at the Opera, and this led to our relations being still more formal and distant.  But it was not all that bad you know, because after the competition, they would come down to discuss with us, and that would help us to move forward, and also improve the way we worked. 

Gabriella Stimatz

Each teacher was very unlike the next!  But up until our fifth year of study, they were all somewhat rigid in style.  Then I found myself in Professor Gabriella Stimatz’s class; she had me work on the leg and calf muscles, and she was tough about it.  Before then, I’d had rather delicate, slightly bowed legs, the muscles being under-developed.  Thanks to her, I altered the muscles.  That being said, the carriage of my torso was stiff, and to do away with that, I carried on working – though secretly – with Erzsébet Dvorszky.  It was Professor Dvorszky who taught me the art of lightness in the port de bras; she was a great stickler for keeping the movement rounded, and for the way the elbow is held.  That is one aspect to which real stress is given in Hungary and Russia.  Overall, in the Hungarians and the Russians, the arm movements are far more sweeping.  Be that as it may, with the help of Professor Dvorszky and her Russian methods, I avoided the pitfalls of tensing up, while I kept the principle of motion free and open (délié).

Katalin Sebestyén

From the seventh year of study, Katalin Sebestyén was my professor.  She was répétitrice with the Opera ballet as well, and was very hard on me.  That being said, it was the anvil on which my character was forged, and it gave me the strength to go through what is demanded of a professional dancer.  She also gave me great endurance, both moral and physical, and that is how, to date, I’ve never suffered serious injury.  Katalin Sebestyén would push us to the limit, we’d do a lot of barre à terre, and exercises for the stomach muscles.  We thought we’d break down, but we had to go on, no matter the cost.

The issue of style

Although there is far more attention paid to the arms, which are given a longer line than in France, on the other hand, we did far less batterie and small jumps.  We begin to work on pirouettes later in Hungary, and focused more on the big jumps.  As for pointe work, this was different too:  we didn’t use them every day in Hungary, but sometimes we’d do an entire class on pointe, including the barre.

In Hungary, and in Russia, flexibility is valued, and from one’s early years, adagio work is given very careful attention; there are many stretching exercises as well.  The downside is, as I’ve just said, the lack of small jumps, and when I came to France, I found there were steps I’d never heard of.  Fortunately, I found teachers here who helped me greatly, starting with Mlle. Florence Clerc.  When I was a surnuméraire, she helped me with the contest to enter the Paris Opera Ballet, and what was important to me, is that she carried on working along the same lines that I’d done in Hungary, so that the torso and arms never lost their flexibility and lightness.  She would always say that the torso must be perfectly supported, light, with no sign of tension, no matter how vigorous the legwork.  She also taught me how to breathe.

Eric Camillo, who had just taken over from Gilbert Mayer, also helped me prepare the entry contest.  In terms of precision and lightness, he was most demanding.  He knew precisely what he wanted, and really helped me move ahead.  Eric Camillo has the ability to « read » the body; not only can he pinpoint the problem straight off, he knows how to deal with it.  His methods are rather like those of Erzsébet Dvorszky.

Hungary and France

As I’ve said, what characterises teaching in Hungary is the adagio work, and the care taken to lengthen the arm line.  As a rule, the Vaganova  method is used, and the exercises begin in the First, rather than the Second position, which is less stable, and calls for greater effort on the student’s part.  But, at the end of the day, the differences with the French school are not all that significant.  And what is the French school, really?  Something of the Italian, and the Russian, no?  The stress on petite batterie, quick movements, are things you’ve taken from Italy …

Although the means may vary, the end must be absolutely coherent.  Where you’ve got three troupes that all dance Giselle, the outcome must be pretty much the same, whatever the path one follow to get there.  What counts, is respect for the style.  Swan Lake or Giselle must be danced according to the tradition, full stop.

In Hungary, we were used to study history of music and dance at the School, and when I was little, I also took solfege and piano, but my teacher was so strict, that I left all that off and kept to the ballet !

At Budapest, the repertoire is centred round the big classical and romantic ballets, and some modern work by Forsythe, Kylian… The custom has been to dance The Nutcracker at the Christmastime, and I was surprised to see that’s not done here.  We also have an outstanding Hungarian choreographer, László Seregi, who has reworked some of the monuments of the repertoire like Romeo and Juliet, or Spartacus… He’s done a beautiful ballet to Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a wonderful Taming of the Shrew.  I saw all those ballets when I was little, and they remain with me to this day.  László Seregi is a great artist.  Similarly, there was an Anna Karenina, choreographed par Lilla Pártay, who had been Prima Ballerina at Budapest, and that too made a great impression on me when I was a child.  Lilla Pártay has also put up an Othello and a Mozart, but I haven’t yet seen those ballets.

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The Paris Opera

After my experience with the Jeune Ballet de France, which was a good reference, and afforded me many contacts, I attended two auditions.

The Management at Jeune Ballet de France had advised me to audition for Heinz Spörli at Zurich.  He took me, though there were over a hundred candidates!  I was fairly apprehensive about the Paris Opera, and didn’t want to risk a stab at the entrance contest straight away.  But, having once succeeded at Zurich, I said to myself, Try Paris!  The Paris Opera Ballet had always drawn me like a magnet, because at the time, the romantic repertoire reigned, and that is where my interests lie.  There was an audition, I attended it, and they took me!  And so it was that I remained at Paris.  I passed the entrance contest in July 1998, dancing the Grand pas classique of Auber.  At the time, I was staying with people whose daughter was also dancing with the Jeune Ballet de France.  She shewed me a video of the Grand pas classique with Sylvie Guillem, and that helped.  But when it came to the day, I was destabilised by the raked stage at the Palais Garnier.  There’s no rake at the Budapest Opera!

I was taken on as surnuméraire, and was given a full contract the following year.  I’ve tried to devote great attention to the French way of doing things, adapt, and amend, though retaining the ports de bras as I’d learnt them in Hungary.

So am I a French, or a Hungarian dancer now ? Both !  I’ve just taken French citizenship, but I shall always keep my ties to my native land.  I love Budapest.  That love is a great thing to me, no matter that I do love Paris!  I’ve kept many video tapes from my youth in Hungary, and I still use them as I work on the State Teaching Diploma!  In all events, might I just say that in Hungary, there are still many people who keep a keen watch on my career here!

Sophie Parczen

A conversation with Sophie Parczen, February 27th 2004

© Sophie Parczen – Dansomanie. 

English translation by Katarina Kanter