theApro.kr

Sharing the issues and processes of media and communication through the body

Interviewer: Hyeongbin Cho (dance critic)
Interviewee: Sung-Im Her (choreographer)

Hyeongbin Cho and Sung-Im Her ©TheApro

Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) 2023, Korea's leading international performing arts festival, has concluded after a month-long journey. Now in its 23rd year, the festival presented 19 shows to fulfill its new vision and mission of being "an international performing arts festival that captures the contemporary perspectives and values of the times.

Following up on the previous episode, TheApro takes a look at one of the international artists who highlighted the Seoul Performing Arts Festival, choreographer Sung-Im Her. We listened to her talk about her work, which boldly depicts contemporary social issues through dynamic yet abstract movement.

Contemporary questions posed through the body, Choreographer ‘Sung-Im Her’

Hyeongbin Cho: Hello, nice to meet you. Today we have choreographer Sung-Im here to talk about her latest work Tomorrowisnowtodayisyesterday. First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, focusing on your latest work?

Sung-Im Her: Hello everyone. My name is Sung-Im Her. I am a choreographer currently working in Europe, UK and Korea. When I say contemporary, I mean contemporaneity, and I work on issues that we can relate to in our contemporary lives. In "Nut Crusher" in 2019, I was trying to bring to the surface what the #MeToo movement has done in Korea in terms of the objectification of women. In "W.A.Y." in 2021, I wanted to talk about the issue of gender identity that cannot be divided into binaries, and in "Everything Falls Dramatic" last year, I wanted to talk about the death that we naturally face as we age.

Hyeongbin Cho: You seem to deal with social issues, issues that everyone has to experience in their life and work. At this year's SPAF, you shared the process of your work titled "Tomorrowisnowtodayisyesterday". Could you tell us more about it?

Sung-Im Her: When I get on the subway these days, everyone is looking at their phones. It has become a very common sight, but it feels strange to me. I think that as we get used to carrying phones and seeing the world through this medium since maybe elementary school, it makes it harder for us to communicate with each other. I wanted to make a work about how we can become aware of these things.

The thing I was most curious about was how to express media without media. I wanted to try to see how the body could be the media without using projectors or other devices, and how it could be a language of communication like emoticons. One of the things I am always interested in is how far you can go with the body and what you can get out of it. In this work I was thinking about how a living, breathing body can be a source of information.

Trying something new, "process sharing"

Hyeongbin Cho: You presented your work in the form of "sharing the process" - what made you decide to present your work in this form?

Sung-Im Her: I am based in the UK and I work with people from different countries. So it takes time and resources to get together in Korea and do it all at once. I tend to take a long time to research, and for this work we had four weeks of rehearsals starting in March this year. I wanted to share the interim process with the audience to get their feedback. It needed more time to become a fully formed work, so I thought it was necessary to have an interim process of talking about what we needed to develop the work, rather than a finished work.

Hyeongbin Cho: There was an open talk after each of the two performances, and I think there was a lot of interesting feedback from the audience.

Sung-Im Her: I think when you are working on something, all feedback is helpful in the end. Even if it is not in the form of process sharing like this, I always like to bring people together in the process and share. This is especially true when I am a performer. So I wrote down everything you said today and I am excited to see what it will look like in the end. When I work on something, I tend to create a structure and then remove what I do not need. And I think this was a good time to create a structure and have it validated.

Hyeongbin Cho: In the open talk, one person from the audience commented on the color of the lighting, saying it reminded him of a certain social media. Another asked about the moves, which felt like Her's signature moves. I think I personally felt that the moves were a metaphor for media itself when I got to the part where the dancers spoke their lines.

Sung-Im Her: Yeah, it is. I think it was more about how the body is not immediately felt as a medium, and then later in the piece you kind of realize that it is a medium. I wanted to create a flow where the audience is watching with curiosity and then at some point it comes in. The lighting designer also had some ideas about how certain lights or media would move with the movement.

Hyeongbin Cho: One of the other questions that stood out to me from the audience was about the energy that is always present in your work. What does energy mean to you in this work?

Sung-Im Her: Energy is the most important element in my work. I think being alive and breathing on stage, that state of freedom, is the most important thing. I focus on how we can take that energy and turn it into something positive, and how we can reclaim our bodies through energy. Right now, the work is so structured. And I think that is what the audience comments have picked up on. I think it would be more interesting if I could pull out a piece of it. But I feel like I have to fight with myself to figure out how to break the current structure and create something unstable.

Hyeongbin Cho: I think it is always a long journey to make a work, and even after you put it on, you wonder if it is really finished. As a dance critic, I think there should be a lot more work like this, sharing the interim process of a work.

Sung-Im Her: I agree. Even if it is not that kind of process sharing, I still ask people while I am working on it if they would like to come and see it. If I do not have a dramaturge to work with, I want a producer or a colleague, even if they are not working with me, to come and see my work and get their feedback on it. I think that is absolutely necessary, especially now that I am going into it as a performer. Ultimately, I will make decisions through my own filter, but I think it is important to hear all opinions first. This is the first time I have done process sharing in a presentation like this. I think it will be very helpful for my work.

Hyeongbin Cho: I am excited to see how the feedback from this process sharing will shape the work. How will this work evolve in the future?

Sung-Im Her: I think we will premiere this in the UK first. We have had some support from The Place. We are aiming to develop it next spring and premiere in May. Right now I think we need at least another three weeks to break down the structure and figure out how to do that.

Hyeongbin Cho: I cannot wait to see what "Tomorrowisnowtodayisyesterday" looks like when it is finished. I am also looking forward to seeing how the audience's feedback after the performance will change the work. I hope to have the opportunity to see it again. In anticipation of the next performance, I will end this interview here. Thank you very much.

Sung-Im Her

Sung-Im Her is a choreographer who examines contemporary social issues and boldly portrays them with dynamic yet abstract movements. After graduating from the choreographer course at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S) in Belgium, she has collaborated with Jan Fabre, Les Ballets c de la B, Cie Alias, Abattoir Ferme, Needcompany, etc. As a choreographer, she has been creating works in collaboration with artists from various genres while gaining attention from both the Korean and European dance sectors.

Hyeongbin Cho

I view performances and write about them. After majoring in sociology and cultural studies, I worked as a reporter and editor for the dance monthly publication Body and web magazine Dance In to write and publish critiques of contemporary dance. I am interested in the moments of “political bodies” that connect the physical movements to society, in addition to discovering and interpreting the possibilities of the body. I work as an editor in chief of Editorial collective null.
@hyeongbin_rd

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Sharing the issues and processes of media and communication through the body

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