Voyage & Hakkō by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
Voyage & Hakkō by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
TUE 26 – WED 27 MAY 19:30 | Lowry
Festival favourite Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) returns with a contrasting double bill which showcases the talent and precision of the company’s dancers, including the latest work from choreographer Young-doo Jung since his 2025 Olivier Award nomination for Lear at the Barbican.
In Jung’s Voyage, a solitary spacecraft moves towards a singular point. Using upbeat, lyrical choreography juxtaposed with a tongue-in-cheek classical score, Voyage playfully oscillates between colour-drenched minimalism and moments of joyful communion.
Inspired by the repetitive actions of the traditional Japanese cup-and-ball toy ‘kendama’, Ryu Suzuki’s Hakkō explores the gradual transformation of body and mind through focussed iterations of the simplest movements. The dancers fight to assert independence within the complex patterns of the horde, giving Hakkō a trancelike, frenetic energy which draws from club culture and electronic music - a modern prayer to keep breathing in a world of perpetual flux.
This performance will be followed by a Post Show Talk.
- “An hour of extraordinary dance and mesmerising choreography.” (Seeing Dance on Jungle (2025))
About the company:
Korea’s only national contemporary dance company, KNCDC collaborates with artists of outstanding creative vision to create contemporary dance works that reflect history, society, and everyday life in modern Korea—resonating with audiences across regions and generations. In May 2023, choreographer Sung-yong Kim was appointed as the fifth Artistic Director of KNCDC.
www.kncdc.kr
IG: @kncdc
About Young-doo Jung:
Young-doo Jung is a choreographer, director, dancer and actor who experiments with a wide range of forms and systems in choreography and composition, focusing on margins, breaths and subtle changes rather than excessive movement. His work aims to handle the density and rhythm of movement with delicacy.
Jung began his career as a theatre actor in 1992. He later majored in choreography at the School of Dance, Korea National University of Arts. In 2003, he founded the dance company Doo Dance Theater and began his choreographic practice. He undertook a residency at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours in 2004 and completed the composition workshop led by Susan Buirge at Royaumont in 2004 and 2006. Jung also participated in the Grand Atelier project in 2007.
He taught technique, choreography, and composition at Rikkyo University in Japan (Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts) from 2013 to 2017. He also served on the faculty of the Korean National University of Arts (School of Choreography and School of Korean Traditional Arts) from 2018 to 2021.
His major works include the opera Hwajeonga (2025), the Korean traditional music theatre (changgeuk) Lear (2022), With (2022), In the Land of Punctuation (2021), Symphony in C (2018), Fugue (2015), A Seventh Man (2003), and Craving for More (2003).
In 2025 he was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the Laurence Olivier Awards for Lear. He has also won the Choreographer of the Year Dance Arts Award from Monthly Dance in 2005, and the Yokohama Arts Foundation Prize and French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographer, Yokohama Dance Collection, in 2004.
About Ryu Suzuki:
Ryu Suzuki is a choreographer developing a distinctive language within the Japanese contemporary dance scene. Born and raised in Japan, Suzuki graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance with a first-class honours degree. Whilst at Rambert, he was chosen to appear in ItzikGalili's A Linha Curva in Rambert Dance Company's UK tour. After graduating, he joined Phoenix Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Sharon Watson.
Since leaving Phoenix in 2012, he has worked with Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Philippe Decouflé, Tero Saarinen, Inbal Pinto/Avshalom Pollak, Ella Rothchild, Tristan Sharps, Motoko Hirayama, Ryohei Kondo and Kenta Kojiri, amongst many others.
As a choreographer, he has created works for prestigious dance institutions including Dance Base Yokohama (Japan), AURA Dance Theatre (Lithuania), AttakkalariCentre for Movement Arts (India), Suginami Ballet Union (Japan) and more. His pieces have been performed domestically and internationally, in the U.K., Spain, Italy, France, Romania, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and China.
Agnus (2013) won the Session Best Prize from Kagurazaka Session House, whilst BU won the Prize for Young Choreographer from the French Embassy, the MAZDANSA Prize and the FITS Award from Sibiu International Performing Arts Festival.
He was Associate Choreographer at Dance Base Yokohama from 2020 to 2023, and is now its Resident Choreographer.
Credits:
Lighting Designer: Jung-hwa Kim
Lighting Director: Hyunji-Lee
Stage Manager: Eun-jin Jo
Sound Director: Dong-june Lee
Voyage
Choreographer: Young-doo Jung
Movement co-creation & Dancer: Da-som Kang, Yu-jin An, Soo-yeon Lee, You-jin Lee, Jin-woo Lee, Hyeon-soo Jeon, Sun-min Jung, Yoon-hee Choi
Composer & Music Director: Jae-rock Park
Costume Designer: Young-jin Kim
Hakkō
Choreographer: Ryu Suzuki
Dancers: Myeong-seon Kim, Eun-joo Kim, Joo-ho Roh, Min-ji Park, Jun-young Park, Mo-sung Ok, Jeong-eun Lee, Jong-ung Jeong
Composer & Music Director: Tatsuki Amano
Costume Designer: Ho-jin Jeong
Age: 11+
Duration: 60 mins (no interval)
