BONGnJOULE was founded in 2015 as AHN Jaehyun met the circus after acting at theaters in the Daehakro area in Seoul. Based on the circus acrobatics using a Chinese pole and tight wire, the company pursues contemporary circus performances combining other genres. In particular, BONGnJOULE embodies on stage “heterotopia,” (space-time where reality and symbolic presences become intertwined). In this context, they make works focusing on human weaknesses behind splendid feats of acrobatics and on daily life that feels unfamiliar. The company’s representative works include "It’s Good", "Burn", "The Road to Heaven" and "Be Drunk".

Interview

Q. Introducing your company,you said that you embody “heterotopia” through the symbolic existence of circusacrobatics. Could you explain this more in detail?

AHN Jaehyun: I came across the concept of “heterotopia” while reading a thesis about Borges at graduate school. It means a condition in which a real world has an unfamiliar space, a symbolic space, an unfamiliar world, the border between real and fictional worlds and symbolic existence. That was so interesting. Circus acrobatics constitute something bizarre and weird because there are many movements resisting gravity. So I believed that putting the circus in a real space could embody an unfamiliar and different space which form heterotopia. Such a concept of spatial heterotopia is closely linked to why I want to do the circus on the street. A theater has a space close to a fiction or utopia with its lighting and stage effects. I didn’t find it very interesting to put the circus into this already fictional space. But a streetis a real, daily space. Imagine that you are in such a daily space. Out of the blue, you see a man walking on a tight wire, climbing a high pole and falling suddenly. And then, he goes back to his daily space. This fascinated me.

AHN Jaehyun: I produced BONGnJOULE’s first performance "Be Drunk" after training for circus acrobatics for less than six months. At that time, I was a beginner so this first work was focused on a certain atmosphere rather on acrobatics. I was on the border between the theater and circus so I expressed my state and determination with the poem “Be Drunk” in a theatrical way. But in fact, what I want to do ultimately is not just to express an atmosphere but to evoke a certain message through repetitive movements and acrobatics. That is because I’m not interested in the theatrical approach of choosing a message before making a work. Performing plays more than ten years, I didn’t feel comfortable about such an approach. Rather than that, I prefer naturally bringing out a simple message by repeating existential, simple and easy movements. What is challenging is that I have two persons in me: AHN Jaehyun the director and AHNJaehyun the performer. AHN Jaehyun the performer just repeats training and that’s it. But as soon as AHN Jaehyun the director comes in to try to find a certain meaning, it becomes difficult. Every day, I train and take notes. This leads to accumulating curiousness and ideas little by little, for six months and a year. And that naturally results in a performance. In such a case, the performance is simple but enables people to empathize with it easily. At the same time, such a work isn’t light at all. Nevertheless, AHN Jaehyun the director doesn’t wait for this and he intervenes to constantly give a certain meaning.

While acting, I thought that I wasn’t recognized by others. So I became less interested and I felt that I was being kicked out more and more. I was already 35 at that time. After attending different workshops, I held on to the circus as a last resort. I had no choice and I had to work hard. When I was an actor, I didn’t use my body very much. And I started the circus not at a young age. So I had to really concentrate. I walked on the tight wire four or five hours a day. As an actor, I talked to others and hung out with them often. During that period, I wasn’t able to tell my story to the fullest. But working alone and keeping a diary, I gradually organized my thoughts. After organizing them, I became able to meet people more actively. What is different from my days as an actor is that I have more time alone and that staying alone has enabled true communication.

AHN Jaehyun: There has been a change. Four years ago, I did more muscle training but now, I do aerobic exercise and stretching much more. That is a natural change. As I grow old, my physical capacity weakens so I came to do more stretching and yoga in order to make up for that. My daily routine is quite simple. For an hour, I do some exercise that makes me sweat. For another hour, I do core workout. For two to three hours, I practice Chinese pole climbing and tight wire walking. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I usually do pole climbing and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do tight wire walking. It Ineed to prepare a tightwire performance, I do tightwire walking three times a week and pole climbing, twice. If a pole performance is planned, I do the opposite. What is important is not to practice only one of the two skills throughout the week because I’m bong (pole) and joule (tightwire). These two acrobatic skills require the use of totally different muscles. So doing both seems to have effects of compensation and balance. I use different muscles in rotation and practice movements that feel different. This seems to help me do this activity for an extended period of time.

AHN Jaehyun: I don’t know much about traditional Korean music or theater. I didn’t add these elements intentionally. After presenting "Be Drunk", I became eligible for financial support and I produced"Contemporary Circus BONGnJOULE" which took place at Mary Hall at Sogang University. It was an omnibus-type performance combining the circus with different genres: “Korean Theater and BONGnJOULE,” “Music and BONGnJOULE” and “Dance and BONGnJOULE.” During the performance, there was a scene where I performed with pansori singer LEE Jaram and traditional Korean musicians. That occasion allowed me to discover the possibility and potential of collaboration with Korean music. I think that not only the traditional Korean theater but also traditional sounds, which don’t always need accompaniment and which highlight breath, perfectly match the acrobatic movements of the circus. Pole climbing and tightwire walking make you feel the performer’s breath. I believed that if this breath meets that of a pansori singer and musical instruments,that would be interesting. That is why I tried that combination in. Meanwhile, I chose traditional Korean musical instruments for my performance quite simply. First, I was inspired by the shape of the Chinese pole which looks like a pipe that is empty inside. That reminded me of wind instruments, and then the daegeum. On the other hand, I wanted to compare tightwire walking to playing string instruments like the gayageum. In short, I didn’t add traditional instruments just because they are part of the Korean theater but I did it because I liked the feeling when I first collaborated with traditional Korean artists. I have actually collaborated with them for four or five years. Now, we are used to each other’s breath and we can exchange it. Indeed, I believe that the communication between acrobatics and music makes my performances unique.

I haven’t done traditional Korean tight rope walking but I saw some masters doing it. They asked me where I had learned Western tightwire walking. In my view, the biggest difference between Western and Korean tight rope skills is found in the energy used for movements. A Korean tight rope requires many dynamic movements going up and down. In contrast, Western tight wire generates more static movements going back and forth. In other words, the directions of the movements are different. And I use two kinds of wire: slack wire and tight wire. Slack wire makes me use the lower parts of the body more than the upper ones and for tigh twire, the opposite is true. This may not be a perfect explanation but to give you an image, slack wire is similar to Korean dance and tight wire, to ballet.

AHN Jaehyun: Overseas audiences’ attitude is “all or nothing.” They really like my performance or they just go away. As for Koreans, most of them stop to watch my performance because it has traditional Korean elements like folk songs from Gyeonggi Province, pansori and music played by the Korean instrument daegeum. In the case of overseas audiences, some of them find my performance unfamiliar and go away as soon as it starts while others watch it out of curiosity and stay focused, even giving us a standing ovation. "The Road to Heaven" could be called a non-verbal performance but its music has lyrics and I even sing myself. But the lyrics in Korean wouldn’t have been very important. Seeing me climb the pole and fall repetitively, some people kept concentrating on it, thinking, “Until when could he climb?” They also empathized with the meaning of such repetition.

In most circus performances based on acrobatics, the performer concentrates on themselves to express their excellence, rather than making eye contact with the audience and communicating with them. On the street, there are lots of risk factors because the artist performs for an unprepared audience in a place more disordered than a theater. So for the first two years, I didn’t consider audiences. At that time, my goal was just to get it done. This seems to have appealed to people because such a performance is less burdensome and it doesn’t convey a specific message. And from my third year, I came to concentrate more on that approach. It doesn’t mean that I don’t communicate with people. I just found a way suitable for audiences on the street. For me, a good performance should be able to demonstrate that behind splendid feats of circus acrobatics, I’m not different from them. A street has many risks but that could also be an advantage and that keeps me from being obsessed with performing perfect acrobatics.

AHN Jaehyun: The company’s name BONGnJOULE (pole and wire) would make you think that I have set a certain limit to my circus acrobatics. But there are so many things I could discover only with the pole and wire. So I may not find all of them before my death. I will make efforts to ceaselessly carry out research within the context of the pole and wire and to find something new.These days, I’m interested in augmented reality. I’m dreaming of making more interesting moments by combining my Chinese pole and tight wire with AR. But it doesn’t look easy.

I had always been dreaming of becoming a famous person recognized by others. But after finishing "It’s Good", I changed my mind. It’s also related to what this work is about. My dream is to make works that could communicate with those living today with me and to comfort and cheer for them with my performance.

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*Photo Credit: ©BONGnJOULE