Choreographers talk about the ninth year of A Festival of Korean Dance

This year, A Festival of Korean Dance returns for its ninth edition, touring to four UK venues and bringing a curated selection of Korea’s premier dance companies to British stages. The festival, which opens on 13 May at both The Place in London and Tramway in Glasgow, has become a cornerstone of the cultural calendar, coinciding with the global success of the Hallyu wave. Curated through a long-standing partnership between The Place and the Korean Cultural Centre UK, this year’s showcase features a blend of returning favourites and bold new debuts that explore the intersections of tradition, modern ritual, and the human spirit.

99 Art Company returns to the festival with two different shows following the success of their award-winning work, Burnt Offering (Je in Korean). Artistic Director Hye-rim Jang describes her practice as an exploration of deep emotions that cannot be put into words, where the stage becomes a space for physical truth. When asked about her process, Jang explains: "Every time I dance until I am breathless, and every time I look at my bruised body, that question becomes clearer, and at the same time, the answer becomes clearer too." In their double bill Abyss & Ekah, the company interrogates the power of art to connect and drive change. Jang draws on the Korean concept of ‘han’—a deep, unspoken sense of sorrow and resilience—explaining that in Korean dance, "breathing" is a vital sensation. She notes: "Without breath, movement cannot begin; even when moving a single fingertip, the breath of the entire body works in unison to create that movement."

Adding a cosmic dimension to the programme, the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) returns with a double bill featuring Voyage, by Young-doo Jung, alongside Ryu Suzuki’s Hakkō. Inspired by the 1977 Voyager space probe, Jung describes Voyage as an expression of "respect for those who quietly walk their own path throughout their lives." He finds his starting point in moments of friction, stating: "There are moments in life that feel particularly striking, like when tangled, unexplainable emotions arise, when I encounter ironic social phenomena, or when I face confusion about identity." Jung believes the strength of Korean dance lies in its historical struggle to preserve identity, allowing dancers to "pursue both individual aspiration and collective values. Dancers often possess strong individual capabilities and distinct artistic identities, while also willingly dedicating themselves to the work and the ensemble."

Making their highly anticipated UK debut, Ryu and Friends bring GRAVITY to Glasgow and London. Choreographer Jang-hyun Ryu treats the stage as an experimental space where the starting point is always curiosity. "I start with this thought: ‘This experiment will be incredibly difficult, but also fascinating,’" he says. When asked to describe the piece for a general audience, Ryu prefers to let the work speak for itself: "I won’t explain it. The energies and thoughts I felt and created are already embedded within the work itself. I do not want to limit the audience’s pure imagination. I hope each person encounters the piece through their own gravity and senses."

Ryu views the "Korean body" as carrying cultural genes shaped by a history of intense paradoxes. He observes: "Korea is a country that simultaneously contains intense paradoxes and absurdities. Just as the atmosphere of martial law emerged immediately after the news of Asia’s first female Nobel Prize winner in Literature, conflicting emotions and the tensions of the times also permeate the body." This unique energy is channelled into a spectacular dance where eleven performers are swept up by invisible forces, capturing the chaos and harmony of life in the universe.

99 Art Company will perform Abyss & Ekah at The Place on 13 May. For tickets, visit www.theplace.org.uk.

Ryu and Friends will perform GRAVITY at Tramway on 13 May and The Place on 15 May. For tickets, visit www.tramway.org or www.theplace.org.uk.

99 Art Company will tour Burnt Offering to Pavilion Dance South West on 15 May and Dance City Newcastle on 18 May. For tickets, visit www.pdsw.org.uk or www.dancecity.co.uk.

KNCDC will perform Voyage & Hakkō at the Lowry on 26–27 May and The Place on 29–30 May. For tickets, visit www.thelowry.com or www.theplace.org.uk.