Review: A FESTIVAL OF KOREAN DANCE, The Place

That uncomfortable feeling when you really want something to be good and it just isn't. That's how the opening night of A Festival Of Korean Dance 2023 (its sixth year) at The Place felt.

Korea National Contemporary Dance Company presented a double bill of "dramatic, punchy works from new-generation Korean talent" - but the jury's out if you ask me. I didn't learn much about Korean modern dance through seeing the performance - or maybe I did?

It seems it still has a pretty long way to go before it finds its voice - or a relevant one at least. The opening work Mechanism by Jaeyoung Lee had some of the most painful music I've heard for a while by Bluechan - think 80s simplistic synth on a loop. A very repetitive loop. It felt torturous at times, and I'm sure it shaped the overall experience.

Choreographically it was an experiment of gestural movement that mostly communicated like problem solving - hence mechanism. But this kind of experiment doesn't have longevity, well not for me. And when did choreographers stop being interested in creating for legs? 99% of the work was focused on the arms - and it didn't really evolve. It felt like one of those puzzles you find on a corporate desk, or an engineering question in an exam. Not dance.

Where was the inclusion of line, form, tilt, curve, projection, elevation and swing? Actually there was a little bit of swing - but mostly as filler, or used as a way to shift placement or patterning. We were offered a moment of slightly harder house music and then returned to the synth torture as the cast of six whipped themselves into a frenzy until they stopped. Fatigued. Like the end of a cardio session.

Next followed a two minute pause where the technical crew swept and a lone dancer had an indulgent improv moment. Everything Falls Dramatic by Sung Im Her then started in silence and continued so for the first ten minutes where I mostly listened to the foyer bar being restocked. Fun. Not.

Choreographically it was the more sophisticated of the two works but still felt largely weak. The whole evening had clear movement motifs but no real identifiable choreographic styles. Everything Falls Dramatic, with six dancers again, was a collection of crawls, rolls, forceful back bends and falls. And lots of different versions/combinations of them. The attire was more palatable than the first work. Here we saw minimal, streetwear.

In Mechanism we had sheer unitards with some aesthetically questionable wrestler-style leotards layered on top. Both pieces had interesting moments of floor work. Probably more engaging as the legs were actually incorporated within the movement. The relentless motif of head thrashing back bends in Everything Falls Dramatic started to make one feel a bit queasy - God knows how it manifests for the dancers. I hope complimentary (legal) pain relief is supplied.

The final work closed with the most drawn out ending I've seen for a while. Like a slow, painful death. Someone even started applauding at one point to try and make it stop. But oh no. Just when we thought we couldn't take any more red petals fell onto the mound of bodies in an atmospheric pool of light.

A not good ending to a largely unsuccessful evening I'm afraid. I'd hoped for the best...but won't be in a hurry to rush back on their next visit. Not as things currently stand anyway. And for the record: the dancers brought conviction and energy no doubt. But personally, I'd rather see average dancers in good work than vice versa. As good work improves dancers; the opposite not being the case.

Photo Credit: KCCUK

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