Korea's largest dance company lands in Barcelona

BarcelonaThe Mercat de les Flors is hosting one of the most important events of its season from this Friday until Sunday. The Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, South Korea's leading dance company and Asia's only national dance company, is coming to Barcelona for the first time. And it's doing so with the show JungleA piece directed by Kim Sungyong, featuring twelve dancers on stage who give shape and movement to an abstract and impressionistic tableau inspired by contemporary jungles.

The production was created using a choreographic method devised by Sungyong, which he has named process init And it's very different from European processes. This way of working stems from the idea that each dancer has their own unique qualities and can transform them into movement. "Before each rehearsal, I met with each dancer to draw out what they had inside. I wanted each one to create something of their own through their feelings," explains Sungyong, who emphasizes that his goal was to "choreograph a state" in the performers.

From these improvisations—which arise from what the word awakens— jungle In each performer—the director has homogenized the movement to construct a unified spectacle. "Even though each one was making their own movements, observing them I realized that they were all moving in the same direction, toward the same goal. Within the initial chaos, there is a certain order," says Sungyong. According to the director, the word jungle The title refers to "the social, psychological, and imaginary jungles we all have inside."

An unpredictable piece of music

To create the atmosphere that envelops the performance, Sungyong gave Japanese composer Marihiko Hara the same request as he gave the dancers. "I asked him to imagine a piece of music to express his own jungle. He began collecting sounds from his surroundings, some unimaginable, and mixed them into an unpredictable piece in which his identity can be detected," explains the director, who emphasizes that Hara "has spectacular success in Japan" and that he is certain that "he is certain that."

The visit of the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company is significant because it is not common to see dance performances from Asia in Catalonia. Sungyong is aware of this and hopes that Jungle be a good ambassador for the art created on your continent. "We have a key role in representing our dance around the world," the director emphasizes.