The 40th Korea Dance Festival: The Path, The Trajectory of the Body

Showtimes

Wednesday (19:30), Friday (19:30), Sunday (19:30)

Cast

Yoon Deok-gyeong, Jeon Su-hyeon, Park Ji-su, Cho Han-jin, Jang Min-hye, Cho In-ho, Kim Seong, etc.

Creative Team

Yoon Soo-mi, Lee Ae-hyun, Kim Nam-yong, etc.

Synopsis

[Performance Introduction] [Pre-event 1] The 32nd Domestic Academic Conference <Records of 40 Years of the Korean Dance Festival and Discourse for the Future> As a preliminary event for the 40th anniversary of the Korean Dance Festival, the domestic academic conference <Records of 40 Years of the Korean Dance Festival and Discourse for the Future> will be held. Co-hosted with the Korean Dance Research Society, an affiliate of the Korea Dance Association, this conference will feature research presentations that academically survey the trends and achievements of Korean creative dance accumulated by the Korean Dance Festival over the past 40 years, reinterpret its artistic value and significance for the times, and explore future directions and discourse. You can experience this forum for discourse where Korean creative dance meets academia on Friday, April 3, at 1:00 PM in the Multipurpose Hall of the House of Artists. [Pre-event 2] <Charm Series - Streets of Seoul Dance Film> Capturing the charm of Seoul through Korean dance. Korean dancers visit the streets and spaces of Seoul, where the past, present, and future coexist and whose beauty is recognized globally, to express them through dance. The ‘Charm Series - Seoul Street Dance Film,’ which is garnering attention as a preliminary event for the Korean Dance Festival, has so far recorded scenes where the city and dance meet by newly portraying the charm of Korean dance in various locations across Seoul, including Euljiro, Seosunra-gil, Cheonggyecheon, Jongmyo-saigil, Gwanghwamun-Taepyeong-ro, Sungkyunkwan-ro, Seochon-gil, Yeollin Songhyeon Green Plaza, Seoul Station, Haebangchon, and Nowon Gongneung Forest Path. This dance film is set to make the 40th anniversary of the Korean Dance Festival even more special, featuring Park Cheol-sun, winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Small Theater category at the 39th Korean Dance Festival in 2025, performing at Godeok Waterfront Ecological Park, and Yang Ji-soo, who presented an impressive work in the Small Theater category, walking through Seodaemun Prison by dance. In addition, the "Best Click Award" will be presented to works that record high view counts to commend the choreographers for their hard work in creative activities, promote the public dissemination of their works, and ensure that this leads to meaningful achievements in future creative endeavors. Videos by Yang Ji-soo on April 6 (Mon) and Park Cheol-soon on April 7 (Tue) will be released on the "Korea Dance Association" YouTube channel at 7:30 PM, allowing you to experience the streets of Seoul through dance anytime, anywhere, without being restricted by location. [Side Event] 40th Anniversary Archiving Exhibition <40 Years of the Korea Dance Festival: A Record of That Time> To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Korea Dance Festival, the side event archiving exhibition <40 Years of the Korea Dance Festival: A Record of That Time> will be held. This exhibition is designed to archive performance materials accumulated from the 1st to the 40th Korea Dance Festival, share the flow of change and records, and allow for a systematic examination of the lineage and discourse of Korean creative dance. Through various archival materials, you can discover how Korean creative dance has evolved and expanded over the 40-year history of the Korea Dance Festival. This archiving exhibition, held in the lobby of the Arko Arts Theater Grand Hall, captures moments from the festival's 40-year history through photographs and videos, aiming to share the history and flow of Korean creative dance with the audience. The exhibition, <40 Years of the Korea Dance Festival: A Record of That Time>, is free to view at the Arko Arts Theater Grand Hall lobby from April 8 (Wed) to April 19 (Sun). [Opening Invitational Performance 1] 40th Anniversary Project Team <Dance, That Exhilaration> [Opening Invitational Performance 2] Yoon Duk-kyung <Sounds of the Night> [Opening Invitational Performance 3] Altimeets Dance Company Jeon Su-hyun <Resonance and Mystery> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall A-1] Altimeets Dance Company Park Ji-soo <Bulhwi (THE ROOT)> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall A-2] Dance company Good Thoughts Jo Han-jin <Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall B-1] Pan Dance Company Jang Min-hye <Fragments> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall B-2] Im Hak-sun Dance Company Jo In-ho <Voyage of Breath> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall C-1] Murmur Project Kim Sung <Bent People> [Arko Arts Theater Main Hall C-2] Hoo Dance Company Yoo Sun-hoo <Radiant> [Arko Arts Theater Grand Hall D-1] Kang Ji-hye Dance Company Kang Ji-hye <Time of Extinction> [Arko Arts Theater Grand Hall D-2] Changmuhoe Ko Kyung-hye <On the Trail of Traces> *Irrelevant to performance order [Closing Invitational Performance 1] Kang Mi-ri Hal Dance Company - Thought [Closing Invitational Performance 2] Dance us project Kim Hyun-sun - Strangers [Awards Ceremony] 2026 40th Korea Dance Festival Awards Ceremony Among the total of 20 works presented at <2026 40th Korea Dance Festival - The Path, Trajectory of the Body>, the Best Work Award, Excellent Work Award, General Audience Special Award, and Best Dance Performance Award will be selected in the Grand Hall category, while the Best Choreography Award, Excellent Choreography Award, and Judges' Special Award will be selected in the Small Hall category. In particular, this year we are able to honor the choreographers who have presented excellent choreography and works by presenting certificates of selection as “Dance Artist of the Year” to the eight individuals selected in the Grand Theater category, while also commending the hard work of the outstanding dancers. [Synopsis] [Opening Invitational Performance] The opening invitational performance begins with a stage by the Honorary Chairman of the Korea Dance Association and continues with meaningful projects involving the board of directors and works showcasing the current state of Korean creative dance. The opening invitational performance of the Korea Dance Festival is comprised of excellent works by many artists who have united their hearts for the festival. First, <Sound of the Night> by Honorary Chairman Yoon Duk-kyung, who led the Korea Dance Association as chairman for over ten years, will be presented. <Sound of the Night> is a solo dance piece that premiered at the ‘1990 Contemporary Dance Artists Exhibition,’ featuring a piece composed by Hwang Byung-ki inspired by Ahn Jung-sik’s Oriental painting, 'Seongjaesugando (Sound in the Trees).' This is a work that expresses the intensely dense moments of resonance amplified amidst silence. A special stage illuminating this year's Korea Dance Festival! <Dance, That Exhilaration> by the Korea Dance Festival 40th Anniversary Project Team will be presented. A work that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, <Dance, That Exhilaration> premiered in 1982 and seeks to achieve a new level of perfection created through the unity of the audience and the dancers. A symbiotic structure is formed through communication between the dancers, musicians, and audience within the piece. The work maximizes its impact through visual mise-en-scène direction, combining Samulnori with contemporary music, incorporating theatrical elements into Yeonhee (traditional Korean performance), and modernizing traditional costumes. For this <Dance, That Exhilaration> stage, ten dance artists, including Lim Hyun-sun, Lee Ae-hyun, and Kim Yong-chul, who are board members of the Korea Dance Association, have come together with a shared vision for this year's Korea Dance Festival. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Korea Dance Festival, a stage of another 'Shinmyung' (exhilaration) created collectively by artists of the Korea Dance Association is set to unfold. Finally, <Resonance and Mystery> by Jeon Su-hyeon of the Altimeets Dance Company, which won the Grand Prize in the Grand Theater category at the 39th Korea Dance Festival in 2025, will be performed. Choreographer Jeon Su-hyeon’s <Resonance and Mystery> tells the story of resonance and rebirth that transcend time in our language, music, and art. It presents the energy of group dances that seem to shake the earth, and resonance achieved through the deconstruction and recombination of Korean art. Through these three works, this opening invitational performance of the Korea Dance Festival offers a chance to encounter the history, present, and new resonances of Korean dance, delivering the profound emotion of dance to the audience. [Main Performance] 2026 40th Korea Dance Festival <The Path, The Trajectory of the Body> A stage of new works presented by twenty choreographers! The main performance of the Korea Dance Festival unfolds as a competition stage featuring works under the theme of <The Path, The Trajectory of the Body>. The Grand Theater section features new works by eight choreographers at the Arko Arts Theater Grand Hall, while the Small Theater section presents experimental and distinctive new works by twelve choreographers at the Cotton Hall of the Dongduk Women's University Performing Arts Center. Conducted in a competition format, the Korean Dance Festival has established itself as a dance arts festival that discovers the next generation of choreographers in the Korean dance world through the selection of top and outstanding works, expands the representative repertoire of Korean creative dance, and leads new artistic endeavors. [Closing Invitational Performance and Awards Ceremony] The Closing Invitational Performance offers a chance to experience works that have accompanied the revival of Korean creative dance, as well as award-winning pieces with a fresh sensibility. At the Closing Invitational Performance, you can experience <Yeom (Thought)> by the Kang Miri Hal Dance Company, which has continued its creative work from the 1980s to the present and led the revival of Korean creative dance in the Busan region. The work *Yeom* offers a profound interpretation of Seungmu and has been praised as "an experiment on the limits of Korean traditional dance, another experiment on overflowing, and an inevitable undertaking." Traversing the transformation and deconstruction of traditional dance to solidify the identity and standing of Korean creative dance, *Yeom* is set to further illuminate the stage of this closing invitational performance. Following this, *Strangers* by Kim Hyun-sun of the Dance us project will be performed. This piece is the winner of the Excellence Award in the Grand Theater category at the 39th Korea Dance Festival in 2025. It portrays those who cannot blend in as strangers, conveying the message that since anyone can become a stranger, we must acknowledge these differences and coexist. Finally, the awards ceremony will announce the winning works that graced the 40th Korea Dance Festival in 2026, *The Path, The Trajectory of the Body*. Out of a total of 20 works, the Best Production Award, Excellent Production Award, Audience Special Award, and Best Dance Performance Award will be selected in the Grand Theater category, while the Best Choreography Award, Excellent Choreography Award, and Jury Special Award will be selected in the Small Theater category. In addition, certificates of selection as ‘Dance Artist of the Year’ will be presented to the eight choreographers selected in the Grand Theater category, along with the Best Click Award, which can be considered the popularity award for the pre-event ‘Street of Seoul Dance Film.’ We ask for your continued interest. Please join us for the 40th Korean Dance Festival 2026, <The Path, The Trajectory of the Body>, where the forty layers of time accumulated by Korean creative dance and new movements to be superimposed upon them will unfold.

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