As a modern dancer and leader of his own dance theatre ‘CHANG,’ Namjin KIM started his career in Busan. As the second-largest city and the biggest port in Korea, Busan is this choreographer’s home town. He attended Busan Kyungsang College, majoring in Broadcasting Entertainment, but soon switched majors and attended Kyunsung University’s Department of Dance. He came to dance somewhat late, but after college he pursued various domestic performances, and then moved over to Europe in 1995. He first performed in France, then moved to Belgium and then back to Korea. Namjin KIM danced for many different dance companies, the most prominent of which is ’’Les ballets C de la B’’.

Based on such vibrant activities in Europe, Namjin KIM is now using his experience to showcase his own dance pieces at home and abroad. Early on, when he first came back to Korea, he started with The Wall and piled on with Passivity, Waiting People, Brother, and Crazy Swan Lake.

Q : It’s been a long time. How have you been?

A : I had a lot of overseas performances. It’s only been a little less than a week since I got back, but I have to get on another plane in a few days. The performance schedule for the home market and overseas market overlaps and coincides, so it is quite a hassle to travel in and out of the country. Starting next week, four performances are scheduled for this month, so I’ve been keeping myself busy.

Q : Can you tell us in more detail where those performances are being held?

A : First of all, France and the Czech Republic are on the list, and along with these overseas performances, Busan and the Chungcheong areas are also scheduled. On top of that we are to participate in the Performing Arts Market in Seoul 2012 (PAMS), so if you think about the four official performances along with PAMS, it’s a total of five performances.

Rediscovery of the human body through dolls

Q : Which performance will you be showcasing at PAMS?

A : A piece called Passivity. It’s a 23 minute performance, featuring three dancers. This piece incorporates life-sized dolls aiming for an optical illusion, and we took PAMS as an opportunity to upgrade the performance. Previously we included female dancers, but this time we will only stage male dancers.

Q : Can you be more specific about the alterations?

A : Above all, the gestures and movements are different because we only use male dancers. Thick lines, stronger performances, and the movements of the male dancers all add up to making the overall performance being somewhat more blunt and heavy than before. And the overall performance has become much more dynamic. The dancers use the dolls to dance, creating unfamiliar movements, and figures of physical distortions. With the continuous dance moves, the dancers create a scene where distorted and ordinary figures get tangled up, thus providing an interesting flow of events. I think this will be quite amusing for the audience.

Q : What was the response abroad?

A : This was a piece that I directed with the overseas audiences in mind from the very beginning. We don’t use a lot of stage props or special stage effects. And of course, we limited the number of dancers to only three. Overall the piece has mobility and it is easy for us to move around, making it ideally suited for tours. That is maybe why this piece was performed so many times abroad. The foreign audiences have been quite receptive and we are satisfied with the results. A lot of overseas theaters show interest, which is why we keep performing this piece. I feel fortunate that we are showcasing Passivity in Asia, Europe, and most recently in the Americas. I think that good reviews have acted as a promotional tool abroad, and that is why we keep getting calls.

Q : How did you come up with Passivity?

A : Once, Jan Fabre, who is a close acquaintance of mine from Belgium, asked me, “What is uniqueness?” I started from there – I first set the concept as a physical game between a human and a doll. When you have dancers dancing with a life-size doll, certain peculiar scenes are created just by coincidence. For example, we encounter various physical forms such as a body with four legs, or one that is broken at impossible angles, a body full of life and another completely empty of life, etc. The scenes that are created by the dance are all intertwined in the whole performance, which makes it even more interesting. So I had all the dancers wear the same clothes as the dolls, completely erasing each dancer’s distinct characters, to simply show their physical bodies. Of course it is up to the audience to decide whether those intentions fully came through or not.

Dance moves aimed towards the world stage

Q : : You were a dancer for many dance companies in Europe, most notably ’’Les ballets C de la B’’ with Alain Platel as the choreographer. How did you get in?

A : I was in France then moved to Belgium, and I auditioned for a renowned choreographer, Wim Vandekeybus. The competition was tough, but luckily I passed. While I was preparing for the performance, some dancers who had once worked with Wim suddenly came in and I became somewhat like a stand-in for them. Wim was very sorry for what had happened, but I felt that it wasn’t right and I quit. Then one day I got a call from him saying that he wanted to introduce me to a choreographer that he knew, and that he wanted us to have a meeting. That person was Alain Platel, and I was cast right away, on the spot.

Q : So in other words, you were recommended by Wim Vandekeybus and as a result you became a part of Alain Platel’s ’’Les ballets C de la B’’?

A : Yes, but I think that incident was more of a blessing in disguise. At that time Alain Platel was a choreographer just about to take a leap, and I was with him in his heyday. Thanks to him I could have a lot of different experiences, and I was able to perform in many great shows.

Q : It seems to me that the time you spent abroad has helped you gain a different perspective on the arts industry. What do you think of the domestic and foreign markets?

A : I think they are different. It’s only natural because everything is different - from what the industry wants, the customs, institution, and practices. For example, the Korean audience is very mannered and polite, leaving their expression of enjoyment until the end of the performance and clapping even if the show is not to their tastes. They would never dream of leaving a performance in the middle, and if they do have to leave for some unavoidable reason, they feel extremely sorry for doing so. But the situation is completely different in Europe. If the audience doesn’t like the performance, they express it immediately. Leaving in the middle of the performance is common, and some even hiss and swear at you. These actions are more of an artistic response than simple rudeness, but the audience is quite aggressive, and it is no different for rookies and masters alike. Even if you are a master at dancing, if you don’t have a great performance on stage, then you are hammered on the spot. Of course, to some point, it is because we have different cultures and emotions, but if you have plans to venture abroad, you have to be fully prepared, learn their aesthetics and know how they react.

Q : In that sense, I guess there is a distinct difference between Korea and Europe.

A : As for modern dance, Europe still the stronghold, and it is still leading in that area as well. So it would not be fair to say that Europe and Korea were on the same starting line. Not only artistically, but they have a completely different system of sustaining a good performance for a very long period of time. In Korea, one performance is all you get, but in Europe an artist makes no more than one piece a year, and the performance goes on a tour. Because of these differences, European choreographers have a hard time understanding how domestic choreographers can have such abundant backgrounds. They think that it is physically and psychologically impossible.

Q : What are your next plans?

A : I don’t have any plans for a new piece as of now. I think I have to take some time to reflect on myself and to recharge my energy. But I will continue performing the existing pieces in Korea. There are some overseas performances slated for the upcoming months, and I do have some tentative domestic performances. The dancers have a hard time because we have too many performances, but I am ever grateful to them for showing me such passion despite the low pay. We were operating on a very tight schedule, and had a tough season. The bigger change that I am looking forward to is that we are reconsidering performance locations. It was great performing in unconventional museums and different places. The Insadong Gallery and the National Museum of Modern Art, where we had a performance last year, were great experiences. I hope that we will get more opportunities to have performances in such galleries.