The fluidity and gravity-defying jumps from dancers switching from fragile to fiery in a split second—ballet is enchanting. But behind all that is years of grueling work and commitment. Nutnaree "Ommi" Pipit-Suksun began, like many in this career, at a very young age. At just 14, she received the Royal Academy of Dance's Solo Seal Award and a three-year full scholarship to the world's premier ballet school, the Royal Ballet School in London. At 15, she made history by being the first Thai ballet dancer to win a gold medal at the Genée International Ballet Competition. Performing leading roles in the ballet canon on stages around Europe and the United States, she joined the prestigious San Francisco Ballet at 18, becoming the youngest soloist dancer and the first Thai professional ballet dancer to join the company and was later promoted to principal dancer for Ballet San Jose. BK speaks with Thailand’s prima ballerina about careers, dreams, commitment, and dance.      

 

 

Honestly, I didn't know anything about ballet when I was young. I started ballet because of my mom. I went to Mater Dei School for academics, close to the ballet school. So, in first grade, most moms took their daughters to ballet class as an after-school activity.  I was also very small when I was young. My mom is only five feet tall and was afraid I would be small like her. So she thought that ballet would give me some sort of exercise so I would eat more and sleep better. Around age 8 or 9, I started to fall in love with it. I was a very shy and reserved kid, but dancing allowed me to express myself. Looking back now, as an adult, I feel like it was almost destiny. Obviously, I love it and put a lot of hard work into it, but I feel like everything sort of lined up. An examiner from the UK came and suggested my ballet teacher send my video audition to the Royal Ballet School in London. Fortunately, I got accepted.  

 

 

 

I did dream of becoming a ballerina, but when you're so young, you dream of wearing tiaras and tutus. You didn't really know exactly what being a ballerina meant. Even when I went to the Royal Ballet School and started to see the world more, I just wanted to dance. It wasn’t until my last year at the Royal Ballet School that I considered becoming a professional ballet dancer. I felt like I was already living my dream when I was at the Royal Ballet School. So, in a way, I felt like I was dancing for the love of dancing itself, and not so much like, oh, I have to achieve this.  

 

 

 

I feel like when you're young, you're so fearless. I didn't have any fear in me at all. I didn't speak a word of English. I only said hello and thank you for the first five months. It took me around a year and a half to two years to have the confidence to communicate with people and to really talk. And actually, looking back, it's a blessing in disguise because not knowing much English makes you kind of in your own little world. 

 

 

 

I feel like there has to be a little bit of luck involved. You have to be in the right place at the right time, but you also have to have the skills and maturity to become a principal dancer. So it takes a lot of hard work and versatility. You also have to have good work ethics and manners. You can’t just be a good dancer; you’ve got to be able to work with everybody. If you dance because of the joy and love you get from it and do it for yourself, then that will motivate and keep you going. But if you dance for your parents, for your teacher, or to please your director, that's not going to work or sustain you. 

 

 

 

A few of the most outstanding ones would be when I won the gold medal at the Genée International Competition. It was so memorable because I was so nervous backstage. The moment I walked on stage, it was almost like time had stopped. Everything went blank, and my body was floating, like I was walking on water, and I had no idea what happened until it was over. So that was one of those moments where I'm like, ‘What just happened?’ 

 

When I performed as a principal, I had moments where I felt like I could completely let go on stage. It’s only happened three times in my life where I felt like I was transported to a different dimension. So I think the best performance would be when you are able to be in the moment, when you let go of all the worries and you're completely there but you're still in control and conscious enough to know what you're doing. 

 

In terms of roles, I would have to say the role of Giselle. Giselle has been a dream role of mine since I was young. So when I got the opportunity to perform the lead role, I was like, ‘Wow, I feel like my dream has been accomplished.’  

 

 

 

Injuries are a big challenge. As dancers, we use our bodies so much. I encountered major knee injuries multiple times. So that knocked my confidence completely, and it took me a long time to recover—not only physically but also mentally. And when you're young, you blame yourself for your injuries, you feel like you disappointed people around you. Being overseas, I didn’t have family support, and all my friends from school were gone. So you have to be your own person and take care of yourself. It took me a long time to come to the point of just growing up, becoming more mature, and having the emotional depth to understand that, hey, it's not your fault, everybody experiences it one way or another. 

 

The one thing that I take away from it is your self-worth as a dancer because I feel like every dancer ties their self-worth to their ability to dance. That's who we are. That's our identity. But then, over time, I realized that Ommi, as a person, has nothing to do with her being a dancer. So I feel like when I realized that, it allowed me to accept myself, my flaws, my imperfections, my strengths, my weaknesses. And because of that, I feel like my dancing improved even more. Something that I tell my students now is don't give up, keep pushing, be resilient. But at some point, you have to be realistic and know when to take a pause and be done for the day. Otherwise, you'll just drive yourself nuts if you keep banging your head against the wall. 

 

 

I think most people assume ballet is so easy and that anybody can do it because dancers always appear on stage so effortlessly. People think it’s just tutus and tiaras, but they don't know that it's grinding daily.  

 

 

 

The advice I would give to aspiring dancers is to always dance for yourself. Don’t dance just to please your parents or your teachers, and make sure that the passion really comes from you. Try to develop a good work ethic by listening and retaining teachers' corrections and then applying yourself in class. Stay disciplined and be consistent with your work by showing up—even on days you don't feel like it. More importantly, be patient with yourself because dancing at a high level takes time. I feel, with the current trend of dance competitions, young dancers are being asked to do a lot of difficult steps at such a young age; it’s very important for the students to learn to pace themselves. While working hard is a great thing, working smart is even more important for longevity, both physically and mentally.