A Festival of Korean Dance 2023

Five companies will be performing in the festival in a series of three programmes of work, with returning favorites including Korea National Contemporary Dance Company – who headlined the very first festival – choreographer Sung Im Her, Art Project BORA and Company SIGA. The Place, Korean Cultural Centre UK and the Korea Arts Management Service are delighted to add the Lowry, Warwick Arts Centre and Dance Space to their continuing partnership.

PROGRAMME

Double Bill | Korean National Contemporary Dance Company - 24 & 28–29 APR

Korea National Contemporary Dance Company presents two dramatic, punchy works from new-generation Korean talent: Mechanism by Jaeyoung Lee and Everything Falls Dramatic by Sung Im Her.

• Jaeyoung Lee | Mechanism
  On a bright white stage, six dancers build up an intense pattern of intricate synchronised movement. Shifting between the parts of a machine, members of a tribe, and solitary individuals, Mechanism plays with our understanding of what ‘human interaction’ means.
• Sung Im Her | Everything Falls Dramatic
  The new work from Korean-trained, London-based Sung Im Her is a meditation on fragility, resilience, loneliness and solidarity. Following the 2021 Festival’s W.A.Y. (Rework), she is once again collaborating with Belgian composer Husk Husk.
  
  Running Time: 90 min (inc. interval)
  

Double Bill | A Complementary Set_Disappearing with an Impact & Byeol Yang - WED 3 MAY

A double-bill of K:dance from leading Korean choreographers, A Complementary Set_Disappearing with an Impact by Choi x Kang Project and Byeol Yang by Art Project BORA.

• Choi X Kang Project | A Complementary Set_Disappearing with an Impact
  The last instalment in Choi x Kang Project's trilogy and following Complement presented as part of A Festival of Korean Dance in 2019, A Complementary Set_Disappearing with an Impact combines live performance with footage recorded on stage to create an optical illusion in the space between what is seen and unseen.
• Art Project BORA | Byeol Yang
  A striking and minimalist duet, showcasing how Korean artists are using dance to make sense of how the pandemic has impacted our bodies in ways we might not realise.
  
  Running Time: 60 min (inc. interval)

Triple Bill | Foreign Body & Did U Hear & Rush - 3 & 6 & 9 & 11 MAY

A triple bill of K:Dance by leading Korean talent Howool Baek and Company SIGA

• Howool Baek | Foreign Body
  The humorous short film Foreign Body travels through Berlin’s iconic sites, from the German Parliament's famous glass dome to the graffitied walls of its trendy neighbourhoods.
• Howool Baek | Did U Hear
  The solo Did U Hear by the winner of the Valencia Choreography competition Howool Baek is based on the poem 'The rose that grew from concrete' by rapper 2PAC. It deconstructs and fragments the body and sounds into new and surprising forms, conjuring up an intriguing visual and aural landscape of mystery and visceral connections.
• Company SIGA | Rush
  The multisensory Rush by Hyuk Kwon for Company SIGA is about pausing to listen to the needs of the inner self to gain peace in existing as we are.
  
  Running Time: 80 min (inc. two intervals)