© Songhee SONG – Naturally

The 23rd edition of Seoul International Dance International (SIDance) will take place online from November 6th to 15th, presenting a diverse digital program of performances and dance documentaries. The festival is giving us the opportunity to “meet” some of the rising stars of the Korean contemporary dance scene, as well as to see some well-known names such as Goblin Party.

Each performance will be available to the public within 24 hours after its official presentation through the official website of the festival, as well as on its channels on Naver TV & YouTube. The international film program of the festival will be available through Vimeo.

Official trailer.

Here are some details about 5 of the many performances in the program:

Melancholy Dance Company 

Übermensch

Melancholy Dance Company has created a piece inspired by the ‘Superman’ image that had once been presented by Nietzsche, constantly wondering about the meaning of life. The process of overcoming anxiety and anguish creates our lives, which comes to us as beauty. Übermensch explores the life free from the current values and norms of society, and thinks about what it is like for humans to live autonomously.

Find details here.

GOBLIN PARTY

Shyness 

A loser, yet a lovely young man. awkwardness in crowd, now, we must go through this place! Who is this? Do we know him? If I wear these glasses, they can’t recognize me … it’s a relief he just said hello and left. If he asked How are you? Or did you eat? Then how awkward would that have been? Nobody cares? Widen my view of the world? No thanks. I just want to order a bunch of noodles, sweet and sour pork, and dumplings and widen my stomach. Pshaw! Winner of the 22nd Masdansa Judge Award.

Find details here.

Art Project BORA

The Body, Reset to Zero

The sudden appearance of the era of untact. What will re-tact look like in the future? Bora KIM, who has grown from an ‘enfant terrible’ of contemporary Korean dance to a dignified adult, asks a daring question about ‘contact’ which we have taken for granted. Through contact and encounter, the body becomes the agency and the source of dance art. In an imaginary space with one person in it, the bodies of dancers absorb their personal experiences and issues, mixing their hopes, despair, fantasies and depression. What is desperate yet fearful aspects of contact in this pandemic era? Should our bodies be reset? Dancers in confined space express contact without encounter, raising a question, “What is the significance of the body in the age of the pandemic?”

Find details here.

Songhee SONG

Naturally

“I look at the winter trees. My heart resonates as I remember the green passing through branches and the roots preparing for a new start from the ground. The tree that connects the earth, the sky, the wind and me is both an individual and society. Leaves gather to form a stem, and stems gather to form branches, then trees and forests. Following light, wind, and water, we don’t try to do or become something, nor do we try to reject time. Naturally is a story of reflection on the life and time. I hope you can feel the emotions as you watch the change of nature over time.”

Find details here.

[5 Solos] SunadanSe

UN•COVER

UN•COVER is a piece inspired by our pursuit of power behind a mask and the false identities created by social media. How difficult it is to look at myself as I am without embellishments, to face the image I created for myself and to get rid of that appearance? Questioning the existence of social values, wealth, popularity and powers on social media, which pour out endlessly, it is time to look back on my embroidered and exaggerated self. It is a gesture to take off this skin to meet true freedom, my true self.

Find details here.

_____

The full program of SIDanse ONline is here.