Here Myself Alone choreographed by Kim Young-hee | Throughout the last few decades, Korean artists, long exposed to an influx of Western culture, have endeavored to return to the roots of their native traditions and indigenous emotions by looking within themselves for inspiration. By the 1990s, artists began trying to synthesize traditional values along with their individual styles. Particulary in the world of dance, such efforts drew strong sympathy and praise from the public and were received favorably by audiences. Arising first in this trend was the so-called New Dance movement, which sought to restore traditional aesthetics to Korean dance. Efforts to embrace tradition spread to ballet and also to modern dance. The movement was characterized by artists who actively sought to re-create and reconcile their native culture with Western styles of dance, rather than merely reviving traditional styles of dance. |
"Han," a central tenet of Korean thought
meaning mental trauma or a feeling of deep frustration, is often said
to be representative of the emotion of Koreans because of their long history
of suffering and especially the angst of women in a male-dominated society.
However, the meaning of "Han" is complicated by the fact that it is also
infused with the connotation of persevering and having a resilient character.
These "indigenous" emotions have traditionally been expressed in dance
through shamanistic rituals known as "Gut," the music and dance of farmers,
referred to as Nongak, the masked dances, known as Talchum, and a traditional
excorcism dance, called Salpuri-chum. All of these traditional, indigenous
forms of dance, infused through and through with native Korean emotions,
have been adopted and reinterpreted by Korean modern dancers. Endless throngs of cars fill expressways and almost
all institutions and stores are closed for three days. Family members
get together, pay tribute to their ancestors, and visit ancestral graves.
People living in cities return to their hometowns to observe Chuseok.
Airplane and train tickets for those returning to their hometowns are
usually reserved several months in advance.
Among other festive days are Buddha's Birthday, which falls on the eighth
day of the fourth lunar month, and Christmas which not only Christians
but most young people enjoy. On Buddha? Birthday, a huge crowd of Buddhists
parade through the heart of Seoul, while lotus-shaped Buddhist lanterns
are hung along major streets. |
The Day of Dawn choreographed by Park Myung-sook |
The search for Korean indigenous emotions through modern dance has assumed a number of diverse forms, according to the interpretation of the individual choreographer. However, three distinct themes have emerged: first, an emphasis on Korean femininity; second, an exploration into self-consciousness; and lastly, the expression of the Eastern sense of beauty through Western dance. The Search for Korean Symbols and FemininityA Woman Set Free...
Bullimsori choreographed by Choi Chung-ja | Deresa Choi's A Woman Set Free...(1998) depicts the ambivalence inherent in a woman's relationship with a man.
In this production, a woman is confronted with a insoluble conflict within
herself. The choreographer tries to express the absurdity of a woman who
longs for her freedom yet desires to return to her lover. |
In A Woman, Set Free..., Choi tries to depict the
woman's inner conflict in a dance that features intense and violent movements,
flailing limbs, tensed bodies and powerful spins and pirouettes. In the
opening scene, three women appear on the stage, each one symbolizing a
distinct aspect of womanhood. On stage they break the silence by pounding
their chairs against the floor. Each of the three cries out to the audience,
one in English, one in French and one in Korean, as if their freedom were
a burden too heavy to bear. Their words, rather than expressing a yearning
for freedom, resemble a groan of desperate loneliness. Then, under the
beam of a spotlight and the shrieking sound of the music, the choreographer's
intention becomes more apparent. The latter part of the performance portrays
the ambivalent mentality of a modern woman struggling with herself. In
the finals, the three women go their separate ways, symbols of the complexity
of feminine nature. |
A Woman, Set Free... by Deresa Choi | Emi (Mother)
Emi (Mother) by Park Myung-sook | Emi (Mother), choreographed by Park
Myung-sook in 1996, is also a feminist work. It is noteworthy because
it approaches feminist problems from a radical perspective, and is distinguished
from past works focused on the struggle for women's political rights.
The performance deals with a woman giving birth, enduring all the pains
associated with labor to bring a girl into the world, then moves on to
demonstrate how the mother represses her own wishes, sacrifices and seeks
to realize her unfulfilled dreams through her daughter. |
As the curtain is raised, a girl enters
on a bicycle. An elderly lady approaches her and offers her an egg from
her purse. At that moment, a group of people rush onto the stage. The
old woman tries to protect the young girl but she slips and falls down.
The old woman is then taken to the emergency room where she does not receive
proper care and suffers abuse at the hands of the uncaring staff. After
her release from the hospital she returns to her home and her mindless
work. As if in mockery of her lost dreams, a group of dancers wearing
luxurious dresses stage a merry dance on center stage, while the old woman
washes clothes in a dark corner of the stage. In the closing moments of
the dance the mother disappears from the stage and her soul, symbolized
by a butterfly, slowly floats away, leaving her unfulfilled dreams to
the next generation.
Emi is a requiem to all women who have been suppressed and injured by
the patriarchal society in which they live. The setting is a modern metropolitan
city where people indulge in material -- rather than spiritual -- pursuits,
reality rather than tradition. The old woman is driven by her own family
into a corner of the city, and is alienated once again by the city itself.
Emi recalls the sad fates of Korean women throughout history: the so-called
"comfort women" forced to serve the Japanese Army during World War II,
and the women in former times who had no say in the selection of their
husbands yet continued on in loveless marriages. However, the mother in
this performance survives all of these adversities and manages to give
birth to new hope. Emi is more than a modern dance performance; it is
a mosaic of the lives of Korean women. BullimsoriBullimsori is an attempt to combine the traditional
Korean shamanistic ritual, called "Gut,"and modern dance. Since its first
performance in 1989, Bullimsori has been presented in the U.S., Britain
and Hungary. Choreographer Choi Chung-ja, known for her unique styles
and subjective themes, wanted to describe the conflicts present in everyday
life by using traditional music fused with a variety of dance techniques
and presented in a dynamic fashion.
The audience, while sensing the mystery involved in a shamanistic ritual,
also experiences the freedom of modern dance. The production takes viewers
on a journey to darkness, agony, thirst, and finally salvation, and intertwines
religious elements throughout the performance.
|
The Table by Deresa Choi |
Wedding and Funeral by Park Myung-sook | Bullimsori also has an historical element.
It premiered in the late 1980s, at a time in Korea when the struggle against
military rule had reached its peak. It was also a time when a new wave
of popular culture arose in the nation, offering an alternative to the
influence of Western culture in various genres. In this respect, Bullimsori,
with its erotic and instinctive movements, depicted the social conflict
of the times. In this work, some critics found a beautiful ensemble of
classical ballet incorporated with the style of Martha Graham and the
elegance of Korean traditional dance. | Despise and a Country HouseCho Eun-mi's Despise and a Country House is an abstract
portrayal and critique of the individual's place in society. The production
opens with a chaotic scene of dancers rushing across the stage seemingly
at random. The stage is filled with more and more energy until suddenly
everything lapses into silence and the performance ends. |
Emi (Mother) by Park Myung-sook |
This work has relatively few traditional Korean or Oriental elements in
its dance. Although Cho pursues a more Westernized type of dance compared
to most of her contemporaries, she, too, does not abandon shamanism. Her
preoccupation with shamanism is apparent in other works such as The Isle,
Namchon, 2nd Movement and Door, which were created in the 80's and deal
with Korean spiritual themes.
For Being Finite, I Am Missed #1 by Yoon Il-cheong |
Butterfly Travel by Won Pil-nyeo |
Premonition by Jang Eun-jung |
The 11th ShadowAhn Ae-soon produced The 11th Shadow in 1998 to
deliver Korean indigenous stories using modern dance techniques. Projected
against a screen installed at the rear of the stage, a shadow play is
shown to the audience before the performance begins. Shin Sun-hee displays
the shadows of the 10 symbols of longevity, called the "Sipjangsaeng"
reflecting elemental human desires for health, happiness and fulfillment. |
The 11th Shadow by Ahn Ae-soon |
The House of Yellow Doll by Park Eun-jeong | When the curtain is raised, the shadows
of well-known Korean traditional mask dance figures are projected on the
screen. Meanwhile, six dancers kneel on the floor in the darkness, their
figures barely visible, moving to the sound of the Kkwenggwari (a small
gong). As the light of dawn splits the darkness, the contours of the dancers,
who are standing back to back, begin to form on the stage. The dancers
scatter around the stage one by one. Some stand still and some move feebly.
Their slow and simple motions tell their own stories. When the shadows
of the Sipjangsaeng figures gather together like a family and then separate,
the audience is transported into a mystic world. According to Ahn, "The
11th Shadow" which arises after the 10 symbols on the screen, is none
other than the human being itself. Men, in the midst of the eternal Sipjangsaeng,
are revealed to be nothing more than weak and helpless creatures. | A Look into the inner world Haeng-jang Hwang Hee-yun choreographed Haeng-jang
(Traveller's backpack) and played the leading role in this production,
which was first performed in March of 1989. The lead dancer appears on
stage with a heavy load on her back and carries it for over an hour. Yet,
her moves are executed so deftly, despite her symbolic burden of life,
that it does not appear to be wearisome. It is only because of the dancer's
exquisite technique and superior stage management that she is able to
carry off this performance. |
Me, an Anybody by Kim Young-hee |
In the first Act, "A Long Way," Hwang walks slowly across the stage in
silence, wearing only a dress made of paper. After enacting the hardships
of a dancer's life, the choreographer/dancer finally puts her burden down,
and removes her paper clothing. In Act 2, "A Piece of Memory," Hwang moves
in and out of her memory and dreams. A small child wearing colorful clothes
appears on the stage fleetingly, depicting the dancer's memories of childhood.
In the next act, the dancer goes on a voyage and meets her death beside
the burden that she has carried throughout her life. The dance closes
with a boy clad in hemp cloth seeing his mother die and then slowly walking
away. A Hunch
Kim Soon-jung & Lee Won-gook in Black Moon by Ahn Eun-me | Jeon Mi-sook's solo performance, "A
Hunch," is a modern dance production designed for a small theater, involving
sudden plot twists and minutely planned movements. The work deals with
existential themes of individuals' being and meaning. Jeon's earlier works
were lyrical and naturalistic but the main theme in all her creations,
including "A Hunch," is the recovery of humanity.
The performance begins with jazz-style, impromptu music combined with
clashing metallic sounds and the playing of a bass saxophone. From a corner
of the stage, Jeon Mi-sook stealthily appears on stage, crawling. Wearing
light green clothing with a round hat, she lies on her back and moves
her legs slowly and softly, as if imitating a beetle. She then stands
up and moves her legs and hips like a grasshopper. A farmer appears on
stage with a bottle of insecticide, sprays her, and watches her as she
writhes and contorts through a 15-minute solo of death. |
A Visitor describes the life that Jeon
has lived since her days studying dance in London: the loneliness of a
student in her early 30's, her peaceful life after returning to Korea,
her fight against depression, and finally a period of serious self-reflection.
While her works emphasized nature and self-identification in the 1980's,
Jeon has turned the focus of her works to social criticism since the early
1990's. |
Shadow by Oh Eun-hee | The Death of a Poet
A Child Who Caught the Moon by Nam Jeong-ho | Park Ho-bin's Death of a Poet (1994),
which secured his place as a leading choreographer, also deals with existential
questions. Modern urban life is the basis of his realism. This work, inspired
by a story written by the French poet Jean Cocteau, is a cautionary tale
of the dangers of losing touch with one's self. |
A poet who ceaselessly questions his
existence is the everyman figure in this work. The poet constantly searches
for self-identity and tries to express the results of his search through
his poetry. However, most modern people are vain, and separated from their
true human nature. The poet in this dance falls victim to these ills of
modern man, and in so doing he loses his poetic voice. Everyday Dreams Everyday Dreams, a creative ballet
choreographed by Kim Soon-jung in 1994, is about the fantasy of a ballerina.
Kim believes that dreams are the collected traces of one's thoughts and
ideas, and that the self -- lost and ignored by the pressures of everyday
life -- can be rediscovered through the exploration of one's dreams. |
Dreaming by Kim Young-hee |
Encounter by Ahn Ae-soon | To express her message, Kim begins
her dance performance seated on a chair in the middle of the stage. She
begins to violently struggle in the chair as if she is desperately trying
to escape from some invisible force that is holding her in place. She
struggles mightily, repeatedly takes off and puts on her clothes. But
it is all in vain; she is unable to free herself from the invisible force.
She is struggling with her dreams, which have been locked inside her,
unable to be expressed. During the intermission, gorgeous scenes are projected
on a screen set up behind the stage, heightening the feeling of dreams
just out of the reach of possibility: visible yet insubstantial. When
she returns for the final act, her dance does not seem like a dance at
all, rather an explosion of desire. She makes powerful sweeping movements
with her long body. Though seemingly unorthodox, her movements are highly-skilled.
This 50-minute-long trilogy emphasizes raw emotions and gut feelings rather than storytelling. Kim Soon-jung defies classification or rules. Rather, she dances in her own way following her impulses. | Anybody series In 1996, dance critic Kim Young-tae
chose Kim Young-hee as the best choreographer of the year. Earning the
distinction was her Anybody II, a variation of her earlier work Anybody
I with the theme of death/life and silence/awakening. Originally, the
Anybody series is about a woman's life and her relationship with the surrounding
world. The choreographer juxtaposes death, often depicted as a barren
tree on the stage, with life, which is expressed in music. The dancer
uses her body to bridge the gap between these two extremes and convey
her story. |
Death of a Poet by Park Ho-bin |
Haeng-jang by Hwang Hee-yun | Kim Young-hee's Where Are We Now? is
regarded as a representative work of Korean creative dance in the late
1980s. The character of the work has a unique spirit and energy, likened
by one critic to a bird frantically fluttering its wings as it alights
from its nest. In contrast to the chiefly romantic works of choreographers
before her, Kim Young-hee's dance tends to be dark, serious, twisted and
violent as seen in Where Are We Now? Kim's search for her "inner self,"
consistently pursued in Anybody series and other of her works, was a common
theme in modern dance in the 1980s as well as in other areas of art. Kim
Young-hee is recognized as a pioneer of this movement that swept through
the Korean art world in the 1980s. | Self-Portrait Self-Portrait, which Nam Jeong-ho first
performed in 1988, is a pantomime. Wearing red shoes and saggy red and
blue clothing, she slowly walks onto the stage taking large, almost comical
steps, accompanied by the sound of African percussion music. Her slow
gait and her red and blue apparel reflect elements of Korean traditional
dance. Nam looks like an innocent child. However, in a moment, she takes
off her blue skirt, red overcoat and red shoes and throws them away. All
of these articles of clothing are merely the symbols of decorative human
culture. |
Everyday Dreams by Kim Soon-jung |
Finally, she removes her wig then walks across the stage slowly, swinging her hips to the music. She then puts on the blue skirt, red overcoat, red vinyl shoes, and the wig again, all the while continuing her dance. After she finishes dressing, she salutes the audience. While the audience applauds, she reappears, salutes, dances, and salutes again. The red shoes and the wig are said to symbolize tamed femininity while the red and blue clothing indicates submission to cultural tradition. To Nam Jeong-ho, dance and music enable her to become free from both of these.
Nam Jeong-ho's Self-Portrait blends wry wit and impromptu humor with modern
dance and, unlike other productions that are less confident in themselves,
is not afraid to engage in a little self-deprecating humor at the artist's
own expense. Western Art and Eastern AestheticsThe Rite of Spring
Faust 2000 by Jang Seon-hee | Kook Soo-ho's The Rite of Spring is
a large-scale work involving 60 dancers and choreographed to the powerful
music of Stravinsky. The movements of the dancers are cloaked in an atmosphere
of ancient rituals, weaving together modern dance and ancient rites. The
violent modernism of Stravinsky's music collides with the chants and ritual
movements of Korean dance developed over the long history of an agrarian
society, producing an interesting stage vitality. | Faust 2000 Jang Seon-hee's Faust 2000 is a 70-minute
piece that was performed at the Seoul Arts Center in July of 1999, and
brought instant prominence to its choreographer in Korea's contemporary
dance world. Jang did not attempt to modify the story of Goethe's novel
but rather she tried to depict each character as accurately as possible.
The stage is simple but solemn. In Act 1, a dynamic group of dancers in
black and white symbolize the conflict between Faust and Mephistopheles.
The fifth scene of Act 2 reenacts the historical pilgrimage in which Mephistopheles
guides Faust. The group dance of Roman generals and a symposium of ancient
philosophers fill the stage with expressive, flowing and vigorous movements.
Jang Seon-hee displays her sensual beauty as Helen of Troy. The death
of Faust takes place in a religious atmosphere accompanied by a solemn
chorus. |
Skyline of Tibet by Kook soo-ho |
The Rite of Spring by Kook Soo-ho | rom beginning to end, dancers portray
Faust, Mephistopheles and other figures with differing degrees of success,
but with the help of superb sets and special effects, the production won
the approval of the audience and in the process shattered the tenets of
classical ballet. |
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