A Festival of Korean Dance tours five venues in its ninth year
- 2025 Olivier Award nominee Young-doo Jung presents a new work inspired by the Voyager space probe as part of a double bill for premier company Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
- 99 Art Company return with Burnt Offering and a new double bill exploring grief, sorrow and resilience
- Newcomer Ryu and Friends bring an eleven-strong ensemble to perform Gravity
- Presented by the Korean Cultural Centre UK and The Place, the annual festival tours to Pavilion Dance South West, Dance City, Lowry and Tramway
Returning to The Place for its ninth year, A Festival of Korean Dance brings a selection of Korea’s premier dance companies to the UK, including returning favourites Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC). Coming to The Place and Lowry, KNCDC will bring a double bill of new work, including the latest piece from choreographer Young-doo Jung, inspired by the Voyager space probe, following his 2025 Olivier Award nomination for Lear at the Barbican. Also returning to the festival 99 Art Company will be bringing two different shows, including a double bill contemplating grief, sorrow and resilience, and Ryu and Friends will make their UK debut with Gravity.
The festival opens on 13 May at both The Place, London and Tramway, Glasgow. At The Place, returning company 99 Art Company will present work new to the UK, Abyss & Ekah, a double bill interrogating the power of art to connect and drive change. The first half of the show explores ‘han’ – a deep, unspoken sense of sorrow and resilience. In Ekah, a female dancer and male pianist contemplate when to resist and when to confront grief. The company will then tour Burnt Offering, which received its UK premiere in 2024 at The Place, to Pavilion Dance South West (15 May) and Dance City Newcastle (18 May). Based on the traditional dance ‘Seungmu’, the Seoul Arts Award winning show clouds the stage with incense as dancers become engrossed in repetitive daily routines, finding meaning, beauty and peace in a world that grinds us down.
Making their UK debut after over a decade of creating dance in Korea and around the world, Ryu and Friends will present Gravity at Tramway (13 May) then The Place (15 May). Swept up by an invisible force, an eleven-strong company shakes, scatters and spins. Gravity is a work about relationships between all matter; the push and pull, the chaos, the harmony, the awe and the grace, of life in the universe.
Closing the festival, KNCDC will perform a double bill of Voyage & Hakkō at the Lowry (26 – 27 May) and The Place (29 – 30 May). From 2025 Olivier Award nominated Young-doo Jung (Lear, Barbican), Voyage follows a solitary spacecraft, inspired by the 1977 probe that spent a lifetime venturing into the unknown, attempting to pause the present moment and lead us into a world beyond our experience. The show is accompanied by a score that includes sounds that were recorded onto a disk and sent into space with the probe. Finally, Ryu Suzuki’s Hakkō is a modern prayer to keep breathing in a world of perpetual flux, with dancers in a trance-like state of deep concentration against the intense energy of club culture and electronic music.
A Festival of Korean Dance was established in 2018 as part of the Korea/UK Season, and The Place and the Korean Culture Centre UK have been partnered on the festival year on year. In 2026, the festival is presented with support from Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE). The growing popularity of the festival has coincided with the booming global success of the cultural phenomenon known as Hallyu – the wave of Korean pop culture. Over the span of eight remarkable years, the festival has proudly welcomed the participation of 25 esteemed companies, among them the prestigious Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, Art Project BORA, Modern Table, and Collective A. Together, they have presented a total of 29 dance pieces, accompanied by an impressive selection of 12 evocative dance films and documentaries.
Listings information
The Place, London www.theplace.org.uk | 020 7121 1100
The Place, 17 Duke’s Rd, London, WC1H 9PY
Tramway, Glasgow www.tramway.org | 0845 330 3501
25 Albert Dr, Glasgow G41 2PE
Pavilion Dance South West www.pdsw.ork.uk | 01202 203630
Bournemouth BH1 2BU
Dance City, Newcastle www.dancecity.co.uk | 0191 261 0505
Temple St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4BR
Lowry, Salford www.thelowry.com | 0843 208 6010
Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, Manchester, Greater Manchester M50 3AZ
Social media
X (Twitter): @KCCUK | @ThePlaceLondon
Instagram @KCCUK | @ThePlaceLondon
Facebook facebook.com/KCCUK | facebook.com/theplace
Abyss & Ekah by 99 Art Company
13 May The Place, 7.30pm
Gravity by Ryu and Friends
13 May Tramway, TIME
15 May The Place, 7.30pm
Burnt Offering by 99 Art Company
15 May Pavilion Dance South West, 7.30pm
18 May Dance City, Newcastle, 7.30pm
Voyage & Hakkō by KNCDC
26 – 29 May Lowry, TIME
29 – 30 May The Place, TIME