Am I indeed skilled enough to solve them?

People commonly think the fundamental solution to communication is to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. Seasoned People wittily portrays the type of people who fancy themselves as experienced and seasoned, when in fact it’s totally untrue. Through the depiction of those who have no choice but to obey the authority regardless of their true opinions, and the portrayal of the situations between the innocent and the inexperienced, the production prods the audience once again to raise the question whether we ourselves are flexible in communicating with others.

Choreographer’s Note

Through conversations with my friends, I became aware that most of them have difficulties dealing with the relationships caused by the vertical hierarchy in the workplace. I came up with this project as I realized the issues evoked by the vertical relationships, such as the absence of honest communications and the    restricted expressions of one’s opinion.

Because of this hierarchy, I also have acted in such ways demanded by the superiors while hiding my emotions and thoughts. Every time it happened, I had the impression that I was living somebody else’s life. I thought I was handling the situation skillfully; but realized that I was in fact unseasoned towards myself and came to   contemplate on these problems.

Seasoned People focuses on communication in relationships. Instead of approaching the issue seriously, it employs light and accessible manner, making it easily understandable to the audience.

The music in the performance is from the well-known ballet ‘Giselle’. Along with the music, various objets and mime props were used to help the audience understand the performance.

Finally, through this performance I hope that the audience will once again reflect on the issues of communication that exist in the vertical hierarchy.

- Sung-min Kim

Company

Dark Circles Contemporary Dance

Dark Circles Contemporary Dance was founded by Joshua Peugh and Hyun-sang Jo in 2010. Based on classical ballet, the young dancers in the company create contemporary movements and stories. Although most of the performances are one-time projects in the Korean dance world, the company has attracted attention for its consistent and sincere working style and management. It has participated in numerous international art festivals and presented numerous productions. Also ever since the foundation, the company has been producing  annual performances and its works include , , , and .

Credits

Choreography    Sung-min Kim

Artistic Director  Hyun-sang Jo

Lighting         Baek-hee Ryu

Sound           Ji-ho Choi

Cast                Hye-young Na, Kyoung-lim Min, Garibi Park, Myung-eun Lee, Yun-ji Lee, Sung-min Kim