The first work that choreographer Sunhwa Chung showed us when we visited her studio session on April 29th at Dance New Amsterdam was "Arirang: Dong-Hwang: We Go Beyond the Crossroad". I had seen the dancers working on this piece at an earlier rehearsal which is where I became interested in this choreographer and her Company. Click on the above image to enlarge.
Sunwha Chung came to the United States from her native Korea in 1994. While maintaining her cultural roots in her homeland, she began to embrace the customs and ideas of an American lifestyle.
In "Arirang: Dong-Hwang: We Go Beyond the Crossroad" the choreographer depicts the passage between one culture and another, examining both the tension and the harmony of making her transition. While expressing herself in a contemporary style of movement, the roots of this work are found in Arirang, a Korean folk song setting often called the “song of the land”.
Here are some of Kokyat's images from "Arirang: Dong-Hwang: We Go Beyond the Crossroad":
Stephanie Lau
Ju Hwan Hwang, Stephanie Lau
Lizzy Zevallos, Lindsay Poulis
Ensemble
Ju Hwan Hwang
Lizzy Zevallos, Yuki Ishiguro, Ju Hwan Hwang
Lindsay Poulis
Lizzy, Yuki, Ju Hwan
Yuki Ishiguro
Hye Jeong Son and Ju Hwan Hwang
Yuki, Ju Hwan, Stephanie
Ensemble
Lindsay, Stephanie
Lizzy
Lindsay, Ju Hwan, Lizzy
Meet the dancers of Ko-Ryo Dance Theater here.
All photography by Kokyat. More from this rehearsal will follow soon.