Every choreographer has their own label, but that label never does much justice. There is no need for words when we see a performance, but at the moment, it has been close to impossible to find a good performance. Even Jérôme Bel said that 90% of the time spent in a modern dance performance is trash. These days it is getting harder to find a young choreographer who acts as an “artist,” and that is why it is an exceptionally important experience once you find one. This is neither a criticism of the institution nor a rebuke on the creative environment. Nor is it because of arrogance or self-justification that I am not pandering to the artists’ ego.

It is simply a pleasant surprise when I have a chance to meet with an “artist” like choreographer soon-ho PARK, whom I can really talk to, who is a true thinking “artist.” I wonder whether there are any young choreographers who have traveled the world to such great distances as Soon-ho PARK. Park’s experience is laden with his past; every time that a hidden trap or pit came up in the road, he had the wisdom to fall, and while enduring through the difficulties, he found ways to climb out of the pit, and would then search for new roads. Collaborations with other genres, the combination of dance and media arts, experiences during residency, and dance classes abroad are all roads that Soon-ho PARK took in search of his inner choreographer, and his experiences are sure to have an impact on future generations.

It was my first time ever to interview such a man. We met briefly at a crosswalk in the colony of artists in Namhyeon-dong, and it has now been six years since then. In the meantime, I diverged from choreography while he was like a relentless commander on a battlefield, zigzagging and speeding through towards one goal. I believe that this interview was possible because we both could open up on a different level. Why do I think so? Because dance is always connected to elements outside the field, so it is better not to focus solely on dance while we talk – this way we can talk about dance in a much more meaningful way.

Q: I heard that you have just completed an eight-month long residency at the Geonggi Creation Center in Daebudo.

A : The years after I entered my thirties has been a time during which I am exploding with passion, and I was very interested in residencies that were two years long. My father worked in Yeongjongdo, so I knew Daebudo well, and the Geonggi Creation Center just seemed too far away.

Q: Choreographer Sunho PARK has been, is, and will be, very prominent, being all over the place. What aspect do you focus on?

A : Exposing myself to new things. I had dug into media arts through various different experiences, but I was more focused on the process of the ‘work’ than the piece itself. Then for the past few years I started to focus on the inner elements (dance). Am I communicating with my colleagues? This is the first step in this ‘work’. A performance is putting something up on stage, but feeling a connection with the other dancers was more important. I learn a lot from them too.

Q: Aren’t you somewhat a conceptual person?

A : Of course, when I work on my pieces, I start from a scholarly approach, and then I open up the idea to expand on it.

Q: Looking at some of your previous interviews, I felt that there were some very formal, resume-like interviews. For example, the time when you took dance classes at the EDDC, or when you had a contact improvisation training experience from Steve Paxton, those experiences were expressed as if they were a medal. But isn’t it a choreographer’s nature to always be changing?

A : Yes. If you look at some interviews a few years back, I talk about Steve Paxton and contact improvisation, but that was ten years ago, after I laid the groundwork. After that I was invited to many international festivals for my pieces incorporating hapkido (Korean martial art) or other sports, and I gradually became interested in dance that combines universal elements with unique characteristics. Furthermore I kept working on the concept that dance is something unique, and Korean traditional music including percussion, is something universal.

Choreographer Sunho PARKis working on expressing a different emotion from traditional dance through the distinct sounds of traditional percussion in his piece 人 : Balance and Imbalance. As a choreographer who seeks to be more international, it seems that universality and uniqueness have become his new standards for seeing the bigger picture. In other words, he seeks to combine what is close to us and what is common to them. But that will be a tough fight, because that is the reality between what is “western” and “non-western,” but choreographer Sunho PARK knows this fact all too well.

Q: What kind of instruments do you use? And what method do you use to collaborate with music?

A : I usually use the janggu (double-headed drum with a narrow waist in the middle), because the janggu is improvisation itself. I learned the rhythm and techniques from a samulnori (Korean traditional percussion quartet) team. I didn’t want to deliberately show “fusion” for the sake of it. It sounds like an out-of-season trend. I didn’t want to mess with our traditional beat and rhythm, but that doesn’t mean I used traditional dance moves.

Q: Aren’t you quite familiar with collaborations? I was impressed by your work with media arts, and I heard you got high praise during your overseas performances.

A : In the past, I did a lot of collaborative work. Life Force is a good example; but I haven’t worked with media arts since then. As you may know, there aren’t any significant pieces of collaborative work, regardless of their international reputation. In fact, I should have studied media arts in greater depth, and the media arts director should have had a deeper understanding of dance. The two sides need to be able to share our thoughts because we’re not creating an objective picture.

Q: My ears prick up at the mention of ‘sharing ideas.’ Do you mean the depth of collaboration? To you, what is the definition of a ‘significant piece’?

A : We now have to create a third element – not just physically, but also chemically. That is why I attempted collaboration with music, because music can bring out fast responses. And a dancing body is a visual sound. It is a visual performance, but I think that you can literally see the rhythm through dance.

Q: Are you satisfied with your collaborative partner?

A : Musician Jongho PARK comes from a family of musicians, and he plays the janggu. His unique sounds are beyond comparison and very attractive. We worked on 人 : Balance and Imbalance. You can infer from the title that relationships between people go round and round, and I tried to express that through finding balance with music and balance with sound. I use pansori (traditional chant) for its musical element. Jongho PARK has a good voice even though he specializes in janggu. His voice tone and language is unique, and he is especially praised overseas for his tone. His pansori is almost like a play. I used the part from Su-goong-ga (a pansori that is based on an old folk tale) where he describes the tiger.

Q: I am drawn to the ‘imbalance’ in your title. I think you could also express it as ‘non-deterministic’ or ‘volatility.’ In fact, I think that you can express ‘balance’ in terms of ‘swaying imbalance.’ What does ‘imbalance’ mean?

A : I create a character from the ‘imbalance’ in the title. We are faced with a realistic level as well as an abstract level. Then how do we find the moves? Each time, I traverse across these two levels. I expect every choreographer does. In the part where the tiger is described, I expressed the tiger as a blowfish. I felt that the blowfish and its movements depicted these turbulent times, and I was instantly mesmerized.

Q: Blowfish… that’s interesting, although I’m not sure how it will all play out. How do you move between the tiger and the blowfish?

A : The gaze is what is important. Experience, education and instinct bring about a certain gaze. When I was doing a residency, I had worked on a piece called Embodying Seoul. The basic concept was capturing the daily lives of Seoul through the eyes of a foreigner, and forming a map out of it. Then I drove it into ‘experiencing,’ such as walking the Olle Roads in Jeju if the dance was about roads. The foreign choreographers complained, but I pretended I didn’t understand because I believed that we had to experience a physical breaking point. I believed that we had to experience the moment where the body and soul become one. In the end we even went to a temple stay to experience Zen meditation. This is the method I use to incarnate an idea into bodily gestures, and it is how I shift the gaze.

The term ‘incarnation’ has special meaning in choreography. When a choreographer as well as people around the world each gestate a new creation, and when all the new creations become one, it may be closest to an ‘incarnation.’ Choreographer Sunho PARK believes the true incarnation of “the experience of loving an experience” is only possible through extreme situations.

Q: The foreigners must have had a hard time. But I expect that they must have felt something at one point…

A Park : Yes you’re right. They expressed their dissatisfaction openly, but I pushed forward, and they all said that those difficult times were the most memorable. We are all very aware of that paradox but we want to skip over the hardships.

Q: What is dance? Why is dance so special to choreographer Soon-ho PARK?

A : In , I incorporated stage art, media and dance on the stage. I used media arts to show inner ambiguity and uncertainty. When that ambiguity shows through, you can express it through dance. Contact through dance is when you start to show respect and hospitality. These elements were embedded in the arts, but we can extract them through dance. That is why dance is so special.

Q: Isn’t the reality different for every genre?

A : : Of course each genre has a different way of communicating. But it’s just that we speak different languages; yet we’re still all people. We simply communicate in different ways. We all have our ups and downs and insecurities, but that doesn’t matter; we just need to settle back down to our original places. It’s about people. It’s relative. And I don’t fall into the allusion that I can do everything. Other genres are for other people, but I do think about the fundamental values and impacts of dance overall.

Q: : I think you would enjoy workshops. With your mindset, it seems that you are be willing to embrace the dance moves of non-dancers.

A : Artists each move in their own way and interpret things differently. Their level of understanding is all different and they each have different experiences. I thought this was quite interesting, so I participated in many workshops while I was abroad. One time, I met a man in a workshop and his dance was somewhat awkward yet natural. I was intrigued by him so we sat down at a coffee shop to chat, and I found out that he was a stage artist. He was very interested in dance and had some experience, but he was intriguing because of his lack of experience. That doesn’t mean that being able to use your arms and legs well is all there is to it. Rather than being able to express yourself in various ways, it’s more important to discard the shackles that keep you from freely expressing yourself.

Q: We should be able to appreciate that peculiarity, or that unripe quality, and yet education and experience contradicts that notion. What do you think?

A : That’s why we have to use oxymorons from time to time. For example, things like “movement is important, yet it is insignificant.” There are moments when dance is not absolute. There are times when you need a language other than silence and empty space. However, the dancers always want to dance, which is why they are hard to persuade at times. I myself am one of those dancers.

Q: I know that you are more focused on your ‘work’ as a process, but what about your ‘pieces’ as an outcome? After speaking with you, I have high hopes for your performances.

A : Going back to what I am working on now, I do admit that the music is still not there yet, but I am not the type of person that fills in the gaps along the way. However I do want to create a full performance and then complement some areas when I go on an overseas tour next year. I incorporate pansori, samulnori and folk songs, but the piece is mostly focused on traditional percussion.

Q: Percussion produces a clashing sound, which goes along with the 3-beat rhythm in our syncopation. But I am quite curious about how you choreograph with such a distinct rhythm and tone of traditional percussion. More so because you are an artist who focuses on the ‘process of the work’. And lastly, what would be the most radical question for you as a choreographer?

A : Our bodies must chit chat with each other. We need that precious time. That’s why my work takes so long. At first it’s difficult, and you have to wait until the end of the process for it to become natural. Rather than a skilled dancer, I need a friend to accompany me along the way. And all I can wish for are friends who I can share my ideas with. I am going through a kind of “identity” adolescence. I have experienced multi-culture, multi-genre, as well as residency, but I still feel I am undergoing adolescence. I feel like I am at a crossroads of our traditional culture and western education. So I can only question, “What is uniqueness?” “What is originality?” The reason we were sold abroad, wasn’t it because we had made traditional music and focused more on introducing them as ‘a fusion of cultures’? Then what is the present and what is the future? I think to myself, let’s not repeat the shameful behavior of the past.