National Theater Season Opening... National Dance Company 'Haeng Plus Minus' Opening

Haerom Theater at the National Theater until September 1

The National Dance Company, the resident troupe of the National Theater, will perform the new work "Haeng +-(Haeng Plus Minus)" as the opening piece of the 24-25 National Theater Repertoire Season from August 29 to September 1 at the National Theater Haeoreum Theater.

Master of contemporary dance Ahn Ae-sun directs and choreographs the performance. This is Ahn Ae-sun's first collaboration with the National Dance Company.

Director Ahn Ae-sun is a contemporary dancer recognized internationally, listed in the "Oxford Dictionary of Dance" and the "World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Dance." She is praised as a "leading figure of Korean contemporary dance" who harmoniously blends Korean movements into contemporary dance to establish a unique domain.

[Photo by National Dance Company]

In this performance, Director Ahn Ae-sun focuses on deconstructing the unique movements of Korean dance using contemporary dance techniques to create a new paradigm. Through this, she aims to break stereotypes about Korean dance and reveal the "contemporary" already inherent within tradition. She explained, "This work was a process of discovering the contemporary embedded in tradition," adding, "It will be a stage where new aesthetics and contemporary values are found in Korean dance."

All former members of the National Dance Company will perform, showcasing diverse movements that transcend the limits of dancers. Following the directorial approach of "starting not from dance but from gestures," Ahn Ae-sun focused during the production process on drawing out movements infused with each dancer's personal history.

The main motif, "Chunaengmu" (the only solo court dance), serves as the starting point for movements that are transformed into minimalistic and three-dimensional group dances performed by 43 dancers, as well as diverse and free individual dances. In this process, contrasting concepts such as tradition and modernity, past and present, time and space, collective and individual, discipline and freedom intersect, creating new and varied "Haeng (Move)" from the uniform "Haeng (Row)."

[Photo by National Dance Company]

Stage designer Kim Jong-seok, who has collaborated with Director Ahn Ae-sun for 27 years since 1997, and lighting designer Fujimoto Takayuki, who has worked between Japan and Korea for over a decade, join the creative team.

The music directors are Kim Hong-jip and Lee Jin-hee, who have participated in films such as "Helpless," "Gil Bok-soon," and "The Outlaws." They plan to enhance the work's mystique by utilizing folk songs, ambient sounds, traditional Korean and Western instruments, and dancers' vocalizations. Lee Seung-hee, a vocalist active in the pansori creative group "Ipgwa Son Studio" and the traditional music creative group "Biving," will appear on stage as a vocalist, serving as a bridge between tradition and modernity. Costume design is by Kim Young-jin, who attracts global attention with designs that add a modern sensibility to traditional hanbok.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.