A Seoul Song for Hong Sehee: On the Dance Solo A Song for You

Abstract

Contemporary Korean dance is thriving. It is taught at many universities. In a piece by Hong Sehee, the technique is impeccable, but it is also here highly expressive. The author wonders how, in contemporary dance, Korean culture also comes into play; how could it be perceived by non-Koreans?

Contemporary dance, just like traditional Korean dance or Western classical music, is a jewel among Korean arts. Amateurs and professionals alike fervently practice it.

I had the good fortune to meet two shining representatives of this art, each admirable in their field, and for whom I immediately felt “the surprising effects of sympathy” (Marivaux).

One of them, Hong Sehee, had taught me how to walk (in a straight line) in a non-dance scene in Swan Lake (choreographed by Cho Kisook at the Women’s University); the other, Nam Jeong-ho, invited me to read the account of her journey as a choreographer-performer, her “tightrope walk,” her dance along the long and narrow diagonal line of life. For the first time, I saw the ballet of Swan Lake (Le lac des cygnes) intimately and from within; for the last time, I analyzed the signs (cygnes) from the outside or at a distance. The precision of the choreographic figures would leave me speechless. Dance invited me to employ the same rigor in the creation and the description of a staging.