PROGRAM 

Choreographer: PARK Soon-ho 

BALANCE AND IMBALANCE

Dancers: LEE Da-som, KIM Jong-shin, KIM Hye-rim, KIM Ju-Yeong (M), DOH Yun-seung
Musicians: PARK Sung-gun, SEOUNG Yu-gyeong
Singer: KIM Jae-woo
Music: Samullori and Pansori (Traditional Korean percussion and epic chant: Sugungga.)

It expresses the essence of human relationships that confronts yet harmonizes through an endless process of mutual communication between sound and movement, which are the two most common means of expression.

JUDO

Dancers: LEE Da-som, KIM Jong-shin, KIM Hye-rim, KIM Ju-Yeong (M), KIM Ju-Yeong (F), DOH Yun-seung, NA Ji-hun, LIM Jae-hong
Sound editor: KIM Ju-heon

There will be an intermission between the pieces.

Technical Director: KIM Jin-woo
Lighting Designer: LEE Seung-ho
Tour Manager: KIM Su-an 

Violence is a human instinct that needs to be released constantly. Sports, which have provided people with opportunities to release their violence, allow us to face human nature. By means of dance and rhythm, this work expresses the ambivalent balance between human violence and sports motility.

Prep School: Click here to get into the show with readings, interviews, videos & more!

PROGRAM NOTES

Samullori represents four musical instruments. Kwaenggwa-ri symbolizes thunder and lightning, the Jing gong symbolizes wind, the Janggu symbolizes rain, and the Buk drum symbolizes the clouds. It was believed that the sound of the metal instruments (Kkwaenggwari, Jing) resonating in harmony with the leather instrumetns (Janggu, Buk) had to create a perfect harmony in yin and yang, and only then could this sound be heard by the gods. The rhythmical harmony was the connection between the skies and the land, and a means of communication between humanity and god. 

Pansori is a combination of Pan, which means ‘a place where many people gather,’ and Sori, which means ‘song’. It is a genre in which a singer and a Gosu (a drummer) weave a musical story into a performance for and audience. 

The translation of Sugungga is: Once upon a time, there lived the king of the seas underwater. One day, the king got sick. Gosh, the only way to live is to eat a rabbit’s liver! So, the king sent a turtle to catch a rabbit. Turtle wandered around and found a rabbit. Then the turtle coaxed the rabbit by saying how many valuable things and delicious food there are underwater. Rabbit believed the turtle and followed him. But as soon as they arrived at the underwater palace, the rabbit was caught by a soldier. In a deadly danger, the rabbit said, “King of the seas, if you needed my liver, you should have told me so before. Because so many people want to take away our livers, we take it out, clean it and hide it behind a rock. If you let me go up to the land, I’ll get my liver for you.” The king ordered the turtle to take the rabbit back up. When they arrived on land, the rabbit disappeared into the trees. The turtle went back to the sea alone. 

BEREISHIT DANCE COMPANY 

Bereishit Dance Company was founded in 2011. Bereishit is the first word in the Hebrew scriptures, meaning “In the beginning,” and symbolizing the starting point for all human beings and human history. The Company is interested in the various aspects that are centered around humans and human history such as phenomena, forms, situations, and states and tries to explore and interpret the origins of expressions made through movement. Bereishit Dance Company explores the physical laws of nature, contact improvisation, expression through movement and behaviors, and kinesthetic possibilities as a method of expression, and attempts to articulate the forms of content within various genres. 

KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER NEW YORK 

Inaugurated in 1979, the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) is a branch of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea. Under the auspices of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, KCCNY serves as a platform to promote Korean culture and stimulate interest in the arts through diverse activities including gallery exhibitions, performances, film festivals, educa tional workshops and more, offering a place of cultural experience and knowledge in New York City. KCCNY also looks forward to the opening of its new home, the New York Korea Center, later this year. www.koreanculture.org

Bereishit Dance Company is co-presented by the NYU Skirball and Korean Cultural Center New York to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Korea-U.S. Alliance. 

KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER NEW YORK

WHO’S WHO 

PARK Soon-ho (choreographer) majored in contemporary dance at Hansung University in Seoul, graduated from the choreography course at Euroupe Dance Development Center in the Netherlands, and obtained a doctorate in dance from Sungkyunkwan University. He is currently active as a choreographer and a choreography educator. Since the founding of Bereishit Dance Company in 2011, he has been continuously researching the body, actively interacting with multi-national and multi-genre artists, and engaging to present original choreography based on a new interpretation of traditional art.

LEE Da-som (dancer) studied contemporary dance in SNDO in the Netherlands. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography.

KIM Jong-shin (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Sangmyung Univ. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography.

KIM Ju-Yeong (M) (dancer) studied contemporary dance in Seoul National University of Arts. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

KIM Hye-rim (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Hanyang Univ. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

DOH Yun-seung (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Seoul National University of Arts. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

KIM Ju-Yeong (F) (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Seoul National University of Arts. and worked for Bereishit Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

LIM Jae-hong (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Suwon Univ. and worked as a dancer various Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

NA Ji-hun (dancer) studies contemporary dance in Kookmin Univ. and worked as a dancer various Dance Company as a dancer and performed his own choreography. 

SUPPORT

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FACE Contemporary Theater and FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), programs of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Collins Building Services; Korean Cultural Center New York, Norwegian Consulate General in New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; Aaron Copland Fund for Music; Amphion Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.