The Dewey Dell company was hosted in Seoul from September 2 to 10, 2024, for a workshop culminating in a public presentation on the themes of “Le Sacre du Printemps,” as part of the SIDance Festival.
“We had the opportunity to stay for ten days in Seoul, South Korea, to present the performance of “Le Sacre du Printemps” at the Seoul International Dance Festival, and a few days later, the performance “I’ll do, I’ll do, I’ll do” at the Gunsan International Dance Festival in Gunsan, a city about three hours from Seoul. Our experience in the metropolitan area was engaging from the very first moment, and the relationship with the Seoul festival was friendly and highly professional.
During our day of rest and setup, some of us made friends with a group of breakdancers we met on the street, who later came to see the performance, leading to a rich cultural exchange, particularly in music. It was also interesting to hear comments from classical music experts who attended the show, drawn by the music of Igor Stravinsky. They found our interpretation different from any previous ones and greatly appreciated the musical synchronization and the respect for the dynamics of the work through the events on stage.
The context and audience in Gunsan were completely different. The theater was located in a large, dilapidated former warehouse, thus not a conventional theater. The audience was very diverse, and even in this setting, it was nice to exchange a few words (which was challenging as English is not widely spoken, except among the youth) with some audience members. What we presented, especially in the context of Gunsan, was truly outside any local conception of contemporary experimental dance, and we were pleasantly surprised to receive comments of interest and appreciation.
For us, it was culturally important and interesting to watch performances by other choreographers and artists from countries that are not frequently represented in Europe, such as Vietnam, Laos, China, and Korea. These works raised thoughts and questions about what it truly means to be in a different cultural context. This is not taken for granted, considering the massive Western monopolization we have encountered in other exchange situations, like in the United States or Australia. The cultural gap, particularly in Gunsan, was real, and the risk of an unbridgeable distance and lack of interest was a tangible possibility.
Once again, we were surprised by how the language of movement can weave connections beyond and despite differences.”
