PAMS Choice 2011

 

■ Theater

 
House Number 1-28, Cha-sook''s, Theatre Nolddang
Architecture comes to the stage. Instead of focusing on the people living in the house, this work turns its attention to the building process and the problems and solutions that arise. The familiar concept of the house is seen from a new perspective through the immediacy of the building process and the rhythm of labor. Winner of the Theater Award at the 2010 Daesan Literary Awards, this performance took the Best Production prize at the Dong-A Theater Awards.
 
You Cannot Say I Did It, Performance Group TUIDA
Shakespearean tragedy reinterpreted as a traditional farce. Rather than taking the perspective of a tragic hero, this work adopts the viewpoint of the public suffering under the tyranny of the despot Macbeth. With a main motif of scenes from the original, including the witches'' prophecy, the slaying of the king, the ghostly visit, and Macbeth''s death, the piece develops a supporting theme as sequences are interposed showing Korea''s past dictatorship. In adopting a farcical perspective, it pierces through to a reality obscured - or erased- by the Macbeth legend.
 
The Inspector, DONG theatre company
Based on Gogol''s The Inspector General, this work features sequences drawing upon the five-event format of Korea''s traditional Namsadang performance, imbuing an independent quality into the different scenes to emphasize theatricality and immediacy rather than narrative flow. The result is "theatrical theater" generated from the combination of live original gugak(Korean traditional music) with a unique stage design. Selected as one of the top three performances of 2010 by the International Association of Theatre Critics Korea and one of the top seven theater performances of the year by The Korean Theatre Review.
 
Killbeth, PlayFactory Mabangzen
By transposing the action of Macbeth into a distinctively Korean future setting, this work conveys the energy of Shakespeare''s original along with uniquely Korean sentiments and dynamic action. Humor and slapstick are mixed in throughout the piece, offsetting the weighty feel of the subject matter, but the sense of serious tragedy is preserved intact. Awarded the Best Work and Best Production prizes at the 2010 Dong-A Theater Awards, this piece has been invited for performance in China, Turkey, Belarus, and other countries.
 

■ Dance
 
No Comment, Laboratory Dance Project
This work expresses the suffering of modern individuals through the dynamic and energetic movements of male dancers. Beginning with minimalist elements and simple movements before unfolding into a complex structure, No Comment is a performance that appeals to the essence of life within the viewer. This representative work by the Laboratory Dance Project has been highly sought after by major festivals in Korea and overseas since its 2002 premiere. An invitational performance is scheduled for the Jacob''s Pillow Dance Festival in the United States in 2011.

Argument, Choe Contemporary Dance Company
In Argument, five artists including choreographer Sang Cheul CHOE create and develop images originating from the theme of "argument." The performance engages in a fundamental examination of methods for communication toward overcoming the anxieties of modern society, focusing on the theme of faulty communication and the misunderstandings and translation errors that result. Winner of awards for best choreography and best music at the 2010 Dance Arts Award, this piece was invited for performance at the 2011 ChangMu International Dance Festival in Korea.
 
Musical Chairs, PDPC
In this work, the space of the "chair" is interpreted as the goal of humans living in modern society - their reason for being. With simple yet complex and subtle groupings, Musical Chairs uses the human body to show how structures emerge when individual energies form into groups, and how energy is destroyed and vanishes when rules are broken. Choreographer Young Jun AN drew attention with his selection as a "HanPAC Rising Star" by the Hanguk Performing Arts Center in 2011.
 
Dancing Grandmothers, Eun-Me AHN Company
In Dancing Grandmothers, the Eun-Me Ahn Company captures the dance movements of elderly Korean women as recorded by the group during a bicycle trip around the country. As they recall the times and places of the past, the women''s bodies and movements brim with the intense vigor of life through the 20th century, which the Eun-Me AHN Company transforms with its characteristic enthusiasm and energy. The company is scheduled to give an invited performance at the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival.
 

■ Music

Rhythmic Space: A Pause for Breath, [su:m]
Rhythmic Space: A Pause for Breath captures the sense of "breathing music" as time passes within a space (which may be the universe in a broad sense, and the stage where the performance is taking place in a narrow one), people breathe in and out, and sounds and movements emerge as a result. Winner of the 2009 21c Korean Music Project Experimental Spirit Award sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
 
Space Bamboo, GongMyoung
Painting the picture of a day in a bamboo forest through music performed on original instruments made from bamboo (including the "BamDrum" and "String Bamboo"), Space Bamboo sees the sounds created in the hollowness of bamboo eliciting the freedom and emotions of a journey. GongMyoung has been invited to a number of overseas festivals and music markets, including CINARS in Canada and the Malasimbo Festival in the Philippines.

Jeong Ga Ak Hoe Meets World Literature, Jeong Ga Ak Hoe
Every country has its own literature, in which universal themes and stories are contained. Taking inspiration from this, Jeong Ga Ak Hoe has shaped a performance with a selection of works of music and literature. Through native-tongue recitation of foreign literature bearing similarities to the message of the music, the performance creates powerful emotions through the foreignness of the language and music. Winner of a 2010 commendation by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and a 2009 KBS Gugak Award.
 
The Near East Quartet (N.E.Q.)
The Near East Quartet, led by jazz saxophonist and composer Sung Jae SON and featuring percussionist Dong Won KIM, guitarist Su Wuk CHUNG, and bassist Soon Yong LEE, offers a new style of music that is more than just a fusion of jazz and gugak(Korean traditional music). While preserving the essence of traditional music, NEQ deconstructs its rhythms, forms, and melodies, reshaping them into something new. This quartet has drawn particular attention from the music industry in Europe and the United States.
 
 
■ Multidisciplinary

Fire Cliff, Minouk LIM
Fire Cliff is a site-specific performance project that uses sounds and a thermal camera to shed new light on specific memories and guide them into a physical experience. The artist conducts a detailed exploration of the social environment, posing questions to the viewers and leading them into a reinterpretation. Fire Cliff premiered in 2010 at a Madrid modern art gallery converted from an old cigarette factory. In 2011, it was performed at a National Theater Company of Korea site in Seoul formerly occupied by the Defense Security Command transportation unit depot.