Portland fell in love with LDP
The Debut of Laboratory Dance Project at White Bird
The Debut of Laboratory Dance Project at White Bird
Laboratory Dance Project(LDP) from Seoul made its United States West Coast debut when White Bird presented them in Portland, Oregon on March 31-April 2, 2011. Portland audiences were captivated by this thrilling company, composed of graduates from the Korea National University of Arts Department of Dance.
How did it come about that LDP came to Portland, Oregon in the first place? In the summer of 2009, Paul King, White Bird Co-Founder, was delighted to receive an invitation to attend the ChangMu Dance Festival. LDP was not part of the festival, but he visited the company in their studio in Seoul and was greatly impressed by the high quality of their dancers as they performed excerpts from two of their best known works, No Comment and Modern Feeling.
As soon as Paul was back in Portland, he told his partner Walter Jaffe how excited he was by LDP. He suggested that LDP be part of the White Bird Uncaged Series. White Bird presents two distinct dance series each year: the White Bird Dance Series for larger companies that generally have name recognition, and White Bird Uncaged, for smaller companies that are creating innovative dance.
Walter and Paul worked with Hye Jeung CHUNG, a former dancer with close ties to LDP, to organize the tour to Portland in 2010-11. LDP company for the Portland engagement consisted of 8 male dancers, including LDP Artistic Director/ choreographer Changho SHIN and choreographer Insoo LEE. The company also brought Mi Sook JEON, one of South Korea’s leading contemporary choreographers, who taught all members of LDP at the University.
LDP had a busy, exciting week in Portland. After recovering from their long flight, they rehearsed at the BodyVox Dance Center, belonging to Portland’s most famous contemporary dance company BodyVox.
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Master Class Workshop – LDP with Jefferson Dancers | |
The program started with Mi Sook JEON’s acclaimed dance Are You Happy to See Me? for six men. This is a witty and satirical work on social conventions that emphasizes the lack of communication pervading contemporary society. The dancers’ mastery of JEON’s complex movement was breathtaking.
The second piece was Insoo LEE’s prize winning duet Modern Feeling. LEE, one of Korea’s most famous hip hop performers, created a work with intensely physical movement, influenced by hip hop, break dancing, martial arts, and acrobatics. The two dancers, Insoo LEE and Jinyook RYU, were absolutely amazing, dancing with great strength and precision.
The evening ended with LDP’s most famous work No Comment, choreographed by Changho SHIN. All 8 eight dancers, dressed in dark suits, prowl the stage with physically charged, unpredictable movement that combines modern dance with hip hop and martial arts. When the dancers appeared for their curtain call, the entire audience jumped to their feet and yelled out their appreciation of the astounding company. The ecstatic response to LDP continued over the next two nights, and at the final performance, on Saturday, April 2, the audience gave a standing ovation that lasted close to ten minutes
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Modern Feeling |
No Comment |
After the final performance, Walter and Paul gave the entire LDP company T-shirts emblazoned with the name OREGON. Mi Sook JEON received a toy Oregon duck, resembling Disney’s Donald Duck, that is the mascot of the University of Oregon. There was no question that Portland had fallen madly in love with LDP. Their sophisticated choreography and superb dancing impressed everyone, including one Portland critic who stated, “LDP distinguished itself as a company that is unabashedly contemporary and global in its perspective but also very much its own creation.”
LDP will return to the States at the end of July when it performs the same impressive program at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts), the oldest and most prestigious dance festival in the United States.
| Korean Troupe Takes Refreshing Look at the Contemporary |
Bob Hicks |
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Well, that was refreshing.
Laboratory Dance Project(LDP) struck a vigorous blow against the prejudice that all contemporary dance pretty much looks, sounds, and feels alike. Carrying suggestions of hip hop, break dance, gymnastics, theatrical acting and even North African folk movement without ever feeling like a mishmash, LDP''s work is crossover in a very good way, shaped so distinctively and well that it should be an eye-opener for any dance traditionalist willing to give it half a chance. The eight male dancers who made this trip revealed superb athleticism and body control, an instinctive sense of shape, the sort of mutual trust that all outstanding ensembles must possess, and perhaps most tellingly, wit that never descends into mere frivolity. They connected almost immediately with their opening-night audience and were rewarded with long, loud, and well-earned applause. Modern Feeling, choreographed by Insoo LEE for himself and Jinyook RYU, is quick, light, and funny, a fleet evocation of friendship and competitiveness. Again, the piece showcases the company''s dramatic skills: LEE and RYU are acting as much as they''re dancing. Something very male is going on here, play sliding into aggression and even anger, then back to play again. Through it all, LEE and RYU maintain exquisite control of their movements. No Comment, choreographed by company dancer Changho SHIN feels a little more raw and showy than the other pieces (it concludes in a series of athletic flips and somersaults) but is also broadly ambitious. The movement is tied closely to the music – by the Serbian world-music composer Goran Bregovic and the London-based group Trans-global Underground – and suggests both tribalism and something about to explode. That''s contemporary, indeed. |
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