Balance and Imbalance by Bereishit Dance Company
April 2, 3, and 4, 2015 at 7:30PM
Cullen Theater, Wortham Center, Houston, TX
(501 Texas Ave. Houston, Texas)
Bereishit Dance Company from Seoul, South Korea will debut in Houston with Balance and Imbalance created by company’s Artistic Director, choreographer Park Soon-Ho, in Dance Salad Festival, one of the major contemporary dance festivals in the USA, in Houston, TX, on April 2, 3 and 4, 2015, 7:30PM, Cullen Theater, Wortham Center.
Balance and Imbalance will be accompanied with live music performances by the famous Korean traditional drummers of the internationally known drum ensamble, Noreum Machi from Seoul, led by its Artistic Director, Kim Juhong.
“Balance and Imbalance is an experiment between East and West, a study of differing movement sensations. Whipped on by drums, two then four, and finally six dancers drive themselves on and on. A master of ceremonies bellows orders. People follow these orders – or not. We get the impression that these people are intimately rooted in their far-eastern cultural circles. To the unbroken rhythm of the drums they develop a clarity and power that go beyond national borders as their unabashed physical control – somewhere between breakdance, artistry and urban coolness – simultaneously illuminates and criticizes their traditions.” http://bsd7.wordpress.com/
Bereishit Dance Company was founded in 2000 by its Artistic Director and Choreographer Park Soon Ho. Graduating from Han-sung University and its Graduate school in Korea, Park Soon Ho completed a Choreographers’ course of EDDC European Dance Development Center in Netherlands. He participated in many projects such as PACT Zollverein Atelier in Germany, as well as in The Anatomy of Extreme with Arepo Group and more. His recent works are appreciated by many international festivals such as Dies de Dansa, Trayectos Zaragoza, Lekuz Leku festival, Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland as well as contemporary dance festivals in UNAM, Mexico, U.K, India, Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Israel and Russia. Recently Park Soon-Ho received the best choreography award from The Korean Dance Researchers and Critics Association as well as from ChangMu Arts Center.
“Thrilling dancer Park Soon Ho touches us with fascinating Korean tradition.”
His amazing performance finds out calmness from the lost space. Soon-Ho’s performance is unforgettable and impressive enough to make us hesitate what to choose between Ray Charles or Baroque string music,” writes Gesa Polert of Rheinische Post, Germany.
“He [Park Soon Ho] has an amazing sensitivity towards space and rhythm; as well as meticulous attention to details and precision. His choreographies are delivered with kinesthetic clarity and power; and always, intentionally or unintentionally, manifest the cultural synergy in contemporary Korea. Soon-ho has had a lot of encounters with contemporary dance in the western world,” writes Kwong Wi-lap, the former artistic director of Gwangdong Modern Dance Festival.
“What distinguishes him from others is the way of his approaching to the traditional culture from the contemporary view to touch the Korean’s universe sentiment of today. He puts focus on keeping the fundamental value of things, not simply borrowing or transforming them. This way of his working may be an alternative to the dance productions, which sometimes are too abstract or serious. PARK Soon-ho is a choreographer, having both sincerity and artistic values.”- Lee Jong-Ho, the dance critic and the artistic director of SIDance (Seoul International Dance Festival.)
Noreum Machi is an internationally recognized and award winning professional ensemble of traditional Korean drummers. “Noreum Machi” comes from the jargon of Korean minstrels, a combination of skill and timing attained only by the best players. The ensemble was founded by professional singer and percussionist Kim Juhong in 1993. The collaboration between Noreum Machi and Bereishit Dance Company started on Park Soon Ho’s choreography Balance and Imbalance in 2013 and since then the two groups performed together at numerous occasions such as the celebration of diplomatic relations between Korea and China and Japan as well as at the international Tanzmesse in Dusseldorf, Germany, US-Korea concert for USA Army in Seoul and opening performance for Incheon International Dance Festival in South Korea.
For more information, please visit the website of the Dance Salad Festival at www.dancesalad.org.