芭蕾新星林雋永 自巴黎舞出我天地

HONG KONG — When its season opened late last month, the Paris Opera Ballet included the first Chinese dancer to be hired in its 346-year history.

香港——上個月，巴黎歌劇團芭蕾舞團(Paris Opera Ballet)的演出季開啓時，演出名單上出現了它所錄用的首名中國舞蹈演員。這在該劇院346年的歷史上還是第一次。

Lam Chun-wing, a 19-year-old from a working-class Hong Kong suburb, is an unlikely addition to the world’s oldest ballet company — a state institution steeped in French tradition. He has already danced in George Balanchine’s “Themes and Variations,” plus a work by Jerome Robbins, in a run that ended on Sunday. In November and December, Mr. Lam will perform in Rudolf Nureyev’s “La Bayadère.”

19歲的林雋永(Lam Chun-wing)來自香港工薪階層居住的郊區，不太像這一具有深厚法國傳統的世界上最古老的芭蕾舞團會錄用的人選。此前，林雋永參演過喬治·巴蘭欽(George Balanchine)版的《主題與變奏》(Themes and Variations)，也出現在上週日結束巡演的一部傑羅姆·羅賓斯(Jerome Robbins)作品中。今年11月和12月，他還將參演魯道夫·努力耶夫(Rudolf Nureyev)的《舞姬》(La Bayadère)。

Mr. Lam’s entry to the Paris Opera Ballet is part of a gradual change at the state-financed company, where more than 90 percent of the dancers are French. He grew up in a small Hong Kong apartment with five relatives and started taking dance lessons at age 7 at a small branch of a chain of schools run by Jean M. Wong, the grande dame of the territory’s ballet teachers. At an annual event held only for top students, Ms. Wong quickly noticed that the boy was blessed with both talent and a classical dancer’s ideal proportions.

巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞團由國家出資，其中超過90%的舞蹈演員都是法國人，林雋永的加入是該團正在逐漸發生改變的一種體現。與五名家人在香港一套小公寓里長大的林雋永師從香港芭蕾舞界的泰斗王仁曼(Jean M. Wong)，從7歲開始在她創辦的芭蕾舞學校的一個小型分校上舞蹈課。在專爲尖子生舉辦的一個年度活動中，王仁曼很快注意到，這個幸運的男孩既有跳芭蕾舞的天賦，又有古典芭蕾舞演員所需的完美身形。

“Everything about him is very precise,” said Ms. Wong, who has been teaching for 55 years. “And he’s so musical — he finishes each step exactly on the note.” She was so impressed that she sent a DVD of Mr. Lam’s dancing to the Ballet School at the Paris Opera Ballet in 2011. That same year, at 14, he became the first Chinese dancer to be admitted into the academy.

“他身上的一切都剛剛好，”有着55年舞蹈教學經驗的王仁曼說。“而且他樂感很強——每一步都準確地踩在點上。”她對林雋永的才華印象深刻，所以在2011年她向巴黎歌劇院附屬芭蕾舞學校(Ballet School at the Paris Opera Ballet)寄送了一張林雋永的舞蹈光碟。就在這一年，14歲的林雋永成爲該校錄取的第一名中國舞蹈演員。

Mr. Lam had his lucky break last December, when the Paris Opera Ballet needed a last-minute replacement for a production of Jean-Guillaume Bart’s “La Source.” He danced a technically difficult scene in which male dancers portray otherworldly creatures, after both some main dancers and their replacements were injured. At the time, Mr. Lam was still a student and had not yet been hired by the company.

林雋永的機遇在去年12月來臨，當時巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞團正在排演讓-紀堯姆·巴爾(Jean-Guillaume Bart)的作品《仙泉》(La Source)，急需一名替補演員。一些主要舞蹈演員及其替補演員受了傷，臨時加入的林雋永參與演出了一段頗具技術難度的舞蹈片段，其中男演員扮演靈界的生物。此時的林雋永還是學生身份，尚未被舞蹈團聘用。

Nevertheless, he made his professional debut at the ornate Palais Garnier — painted blue, as the understudy of an understudy of an elf. After filling in for 23 shows, he got a back-stage thank-you directly from Benjamin Millepied, the Paris Opera’s dance director.

但是，以飾演一個精靈的替補演員的替補演員的身份，藍色妝容的林雋永在巴黎歌劇院的華麗舞臺上完成了職業生涯的首場演出。在他替補演出23場之後，巴黎歌劇院的舞蹈總監本傑明·米派德(Benjamin Millepied)在後臺親自對他表示了感謝。

“He has very polished technique — he’s quick and fit,” Mr. Millepied said in a telephone interview, adding that Mr. Lam was only one of three male dancers the company hired this year. “He’s got great proportions. And after that trial, we knew he would be great for the company.”

“他的技巧非常嫺熟——動作機敏，身體健康，”米派德在接受電話採訪時說道。他還表示，今年舞團只招了三名男舞蹈演員，林雋永是其中之一。“他的身材比例非常好。在經過那次試演之後，我們就知道，對這個舞蹈團來說，他會是個不錯的人選。”

Mr. Millepied spoke of a “cultural change” at the ballet — one that reflected his international outlook and “American influences.” Mr. Millepied, a native of Bordeaux, grew up partly in Senegal and danced with the New York City Ballet for more than a decade. He became a Hollywood name when he choreographed “Black Swan,” where he met and married the movie’s star, Natalie Portman.

米派德講到了巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞蹈團的“文化轉變”。這種轉變體現出他的國際視野和他受到的“美國影響”。米派德在波爾多出生，少年時期在塞內加爾生活過，並在紐約市芭蕾舞團演出了十多年。在爲電影《黑天鵝》(Balck Swan)擔任編舞時，他開始跟好萊塢扯上了關係——通過此片遇到了電影明星娜塔莉·波特曼(Natalie Portman)，並與之結婚。

“We want more diversity in the Paris Opera,” Mr. Millepied said. “We want a 21st-century company that truly resembles the community.” He added that he wished to see more international dancers at both the company and its school.

“我們希望巴黎歌劇院能更具多樣性，”米派德說。“我們想打造一個能夠真正代表這一羣體的、面向21世紀的舞蹈團。”他還表示，希望在舞蹈團及其附屬學校都能看到更多的國際舞蹈演員。

Back in Hong Kong in August, Mr. Lam was the star attraction at the Jean M. Wong School’s 55th anniversary gala, where he danced the role of a dashing, comedic Basilio in “Don Quixote.”

今年8月回香港參加王仁曼舞蹈學校創校55週年紀念演出時，林雋永是衆人關注的焦點。他扮演了芭蕾舞劇《唐吉可德》(Don Quixote)中風度翩翩的喜劇角色巴西里奧。

He was clearly the hometown hero in the sort of student show where 5-year-olds toddle around the edges of the village scenes in tutus. Booklets handed out at the Hong Kong Cultural Center showed him flying through the air, with the headline “He made history! The first Chinese to join the Paris Opera Ballet.”

在這類由五歲孩童穿着芭蕾裙在鄉村場景中伴舞的學生演出活動中，他明顯成了榮歸故里的英雄。香港文化中心分發的演出傳單上印有他在空中飛舞的照片，標題是《創造歷史！進入巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞團的首位華人》。

After the performance, Mr. Lam shyly accepted congratulations from awe-stuck students backstage. A slightly built teenager in shorts and a backpack, he then excused himself and found his parents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin waiting in the lobby. His parents, a schoolteacher and an elevator repairman, have not had the chance to see their son dance in Paris.

演出結束後，林雋永靦腆地在後臺接受心存敬畏的學生們的祝賀。之後，這個穿着短褲、揹着雙肩包、身材瘦削的少年找了個藉口離開了，去找在大廳等他的家人和親戚。他的父母一個是教師、一個是電梯維修師，還不曾有機會到巴黎觀看過兒子的演出。

Mr. Lam said he had decided to become a professional dancer at 11. But he faced several hurdles in Hong Kong, including the fact that he could not find a good male ballet teacher. The best he could do was cross the border with mainland Chinese to work with a teacher at the Guangzhou Ballet School during school holidays.

林雋永說，他在11歲的時候就決心成爲職業芭蕾舞演員。但在香港，他面臨不少障礙，包括找不到好的男芭蕾舞教師。他能找到的最好的解決辦法，就是在學校放假期間，到內地的廣州芭蕾舞學校，向那裏的一位老師請教。

“It’s totally different training,” Ms. Wong said of male dancers. “They need to jump more. They need to do more turns. They need to learn the pas de deux. By the time Chun-wing was 13, he was really in a hurry to go overseas.”

“那是完全不同的訓練，”王仁曼說到男芭蕾舞演員的訓練。“他們跳躍動作更多，旋轉動作也多，還需要學雙人舞。等到他13歲的時候，林雋永真的急需出國了。”

She started lobbying for him. She took his audition DVD to the Royal Ballet School in London, but he missed the minimum age requirement by a week. He received a scholarship to attend its summer school, but was still lacking a place for full-time study.

王仁曼開始大力爲他做推薦。她把他的試演光碟送到倫敦皇家芭蕾舞學院，但林雋永比該院要求的最低年齡小一週。他獲得了參加該校暑期班的獎學金，但還缺少一個全日制學習的地方。

Another DVD was sent to the Paris Opera Ballet, where he was invited for a private audition. Almost as soon as they received the notice, the ballet teacher flew with her protégé to Paris. They went sightseeing the first day, stopping to gaze at the elaborate facades of the Paris Opera’s residences. The second day, they rode in nervous silence to the Paris Opera’s Ballet School in Nanterre, a suburb to the west of the city.

同樣收到他的舞蹈光碟的還有巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞團，後者邀請他去做一次私下的面試。一接到這個通知，王仁曼就帶着自己的愛徒飛去了巴黎。第一天在巴黎觀光時，他們在巴黎歌劇院的建築前停留，凝神觀看它那精緻的外觀。第二天，他們緊張沉默地乘車前往位於巴黎西郊的巴黎歌劇院附屬舞蹈學校。

Mr. Lam was whisked away and Ms. Wong waited in the lobby for two hours. Finally, 氀椀猀愀戀攀琀梔 Platel, the legendary prima ballerina who is the director of the school, emerged and declared: “This boy has talent.”

林雋永很快被帶走面試，王仁曼在大廳等了兩個小時。最後，該校校長、富有傳奇色彩的前首席女演員伊麗莎白·普拉特爾(氀椀猀愀戀攀琀梔 Platel)出現，並宣佈：“這個男孩很有才華。”

“My heart went boom,” Ms. Wong said.

“我心裏當時樂開了花，”王仁曼說。

The next challenge was convincing Mr. Lam’s family to let him move to France. Children in Hong Kong — a city with exorbitant home prices and not much of a social safety net — are usually pushed into reliable, traditional careers.

第二個挑戰是說服林雋永的家人讓他移居法國。香港房價過高，社會保障體系也不算太好，這種現實促使香港的孩子往往選擇可靠、傳統的職業。

“He has very supportive parents,” Ms. Wong said, “especially given that he is coming from a Chinese family with only one son.”

“他的父母非常支持他，”王仁曼說，“尤其考慮到，這個中式家庭只有這麼一個男孩。”

When Mr. Lam moved to the Ballet School’s boarding house at 14, he spoke almost no French. There were few foreigners among the 130 students. There was only one other boy from abroad, a Ukrainain who did not make it to the second year.

14歲的林雋永住進芭蕾舞學校的寄宿公寓時，幾乎一句法語也不會講。在全校130名學生裏，外國學生非常之少。來自國外的男學員，除了林雋永，只有一個烏克蘭男孩，但後者沒能進到第二年就離開了。

“I was so homesick,” Mr. Lam said. “Sometimes at night, I’d think, ‘What am I doing here?”’ Despite his spectacular performances, he posted only one video on his personal website — of his grandmother cooking Cantonese food. (Someday, one presumes, Mr. Lam will have a publicist.)

“我當時很想家，”林雋永說。“有些晚上，我會想，‘我來這兒幹什麼？’”儘管他有那麼多場盛大演出，但在自己的個人網站上他只上傳了一個視頻，有關他祖母做粵菜的視頻。（想來有朝一日，林雋永會擁有自己的公關人員。）

In September, Mr. Lam began work as a quadrille, on the first rung of the ladder in the corps de ballet. He blushes when asked if he is proud of himself.

今年九月，林雋永開始成爲巴黎歌劇院芭蕾舞團的四人組演員——羣舞演員中的初級成員。當被問到是否爲自己感到驕傲時，他不好意思地臉紅了。

“Of course I’m happy. But mostly I’m just relieved,” he said. “I’ve been worried — basically, I’ve been worried since I was 13. I worried I was not good enough. I worried I couldn’t go overseas.” He paused. “Now, at least, here I am.”

“我當然很高興。但更主要的，是感覺鬆了口氣，”他說。“可以說，從13歲開始，我一直都很焦慮。擔心自己不夠好。擔心我不能在海外發展。”他停頓了一下。“現在，我至少來到了這裏。”