Online Performance of <N.O.T> by Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre

Presented by Korean Cultural Center New York & Sejong Center
Friday, September 25, 2020 at 8 pm

Online Streaming with Live Chat on the KCCNY Youtube Channel 
No Ticket or RSVP necessary 

About Creative Dance <N.O.T> by the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre

- Running Time: 80min (No Intermission)

- Premiere: May, 2019

- Summary

<N.O.T> short for “No One There” tells the story of our inability to communicate amid the various conflicts of the current times.  It is a representative work that expresses the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre’s own creative movement languages, combining traditional Korean movements with a modern style. It features large-scale group dance scenes with a unique dreamy style of choreographic production.

- Theme

A 10-year-old girl, trapped in the mind of an 80-year-old grandmother, embarks on a journey to find her parents with whom she had separated with during the Korean War. Her quest acts as a striking allegory to the conflicts and dysfunction that our contemporary society is fraught with, while also sharing a message of healing across boundaries for a world of peaceful coexistence.

Scene

Prologue. A Girl’s Wish
Scene 1. We are Family
Scene 2. Commutes are a Battlefield
Scene 3. Weight of Life
Scene 4. Power that overcomes power
Scene 5. The Shape of Dad
Scene 6. Your Face is More Beautiful than You Think.

Scene 7. Even Paper is Heavy When it’s Stacked.
Scene 8. Each One’s Language
Scene 9. Each One’s Thoughts
Scene 10. Chase The Line
Scene 11. Whirlwind on the Way Back Home
Scene 12. Your Visage is My Face
Scene 13. On a Balloon
Curtain Call

Introduction of <N.O.T>

You and Me, You and You, A Line Between Us

And a Hope to Cross the Boundary Freely

<N.O.T - No One There> 

A 10-year-old girl, trapped in the mind of an 80-year-old grandmother, embarks on a journey to find her parents with whom she had separated with during the Korean War.

In the eyes of a young girl, the world is full of many conflicts: between generations, genders, ideologies, families, and more. It is our self-portraits that we cannot communicate in the phenomena of lack of communication in society. Everyday, people shout “Is No One There?” These images are depicted as Korean creative modern dances. 

“Is No One There?”  

This question is not only a question of physical existence, but also a question for something that hopes to understand my true feelings. 

Also, the title, <N.O.T>, was inspired by the Korean word “nat (face; 面)”expressed in Jeju dialect. The face is a figure representing human beings and is also the primary channel for expressing and communicating one’s emotions. <N.O.T> tells a message that we should overcome social conflicts and the boundaries drawn between me and you, you and you, and us. 

The young girl is separated from her father during the Korean War, and a demarcation separates them. But more than 70 years later, they are still divided by boundaries. Families who eat together at the same table look like zombies infected by their own smartphones; people in the subway growl at each other lest their bodies make even the slightest bit of physical contact; lovers struggle with the restraints and discomfort of having crossed each other’s personal lines. The people in the girl’s eyes are mysterious, scary, and also fascinating. The girl tries to find her dad among this mass of human beings, but it’s her own family who protect her, but also deter her. The lack of communications exists even between the family members who are closest to each other.

The girl runs out fearlessly to find “the balloon” among the people. For the girl, the balloon is a representation of her father. In the end, the girl’s cry of “Is no one there?” is a silent shout for her loss, as she goes on a journey to find that someone who understands her true feelings. Before she even realizes, the girl begins to see balloons hanging from everyone’s backs, not just behind her dad’s. The different shapes of balloons express different gazes and thoughts. However, in the girl's eye, the balloon is just a balloon. Everyone wants to communicate with each other and they yell “Is no one there?” but they cannot cross their own lines. 

But in the end, the girl is able to fully hear everyone’s hopes and cries for true human connection. She carries the vast number of balloons on her own back -- lightly, freely able to float over the lines, borders, boundaries, and limits. It’s all she had ever hoped for.

Creative Team & Staff 

Artistic Director & Choreographer: Jung Hyejin
Production: O Gyeongtaek 
Scenario: Kim Seongran
Music: Kim Cheolhwan
Assistant Choreographer: Kim Seonghun
Set: Park Dongu

Visual Graphics: Jung Jaejin
Lighting: Shin Ho
Costumes: Lee Hojun & Padula Marika
Make-up & Hair: Kim Jonghan
Props: Kim Sanghui
Cast: Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre

The Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre

- Established in 1974, Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre has been the cradle of Korean creative dance for the past 40 years. It has contributed to the introduction of Korea's outstanding traditional culture to the world, while also supporting the development of local performing culture by providing the highest quality of repertoires through constant creative collaborations. As a dance theatre moving towards, the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre continues to reinvent and transform itself as it aims to approach the audience in an accessible way.

 The Sejong Center

- The Sejong Center was established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as Seoul's representative culture and arts institution. Built in 1978 and reborn as a foundation in 1999, it has been dubbed the hub of Korean performance culture and as it plays a key for Seoul's art scene.

- Sejong Center has since undertaken reformation of its facilities including structures such as Sejong Chamber Hall, Sejong M Theater, Sejong Museum of Art, Sejong S Theater, and more. They played important roles as the cultural and arts center of Seoul by holding various events following the remodeling of the Sejong Grand Theater.

 
Taehyun Hwang