On June 18, 2024, the third annual Los Angeles Dance Festival/International Exchange opened with a Meet & Greet led by Artistic Director Deborah Brockus and Moonea Choi, Artistic Director of Seoul International Dance Festival in TANK (SIDFIT). For the next few days, the festival provided studio classes, workshops and showcase performances at Brockus Project Studios in east LA. The first performance on Friday, June 21st consisted of a wide variety of works by Korean choreographers Woo Tae-wook, Minjung Kang, and Choi Ja-in, alongside American choreographers Himerria Wortham, Andrea Burr, and Deborah Brockus. It was exciting to see the differences and similarities between the choreographic approaches of two very different cultures.
LADF International 2024 – (L-R) Arturo Gonzalez, Harry Peterson, Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey in “Edges, Lines and Corners” choreography by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
The program opened with Brockus’ Edges, Lines and Corners set to music by Peter Askim and performed with great skill by BrockusRED members Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey, Arturo Gonzalez and Harry Peterson. Each dancer performed isolated solos while maneuvering two thin poles that created personal spaces and boundaries both horizontally and vertically. The poles were soon brought together to form a large square offering a common area for each performer to be supported for a moment by their community.
The mood shifted as the poles were discarded and a movement phrase executed in canon brought the dancers back onto the stage like a wave washing seaweed onto the shore. The dance continued to present the title’s edges, lines and corners with a beautiful use of unison movement peppered with the use of musical canons.
LADF International 2024 – Woo Tae-Wook in his solo “Orbit” – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Tension and time-bending were two adjectives that came to mind as I watched Orbit, choreographed and performed by the tall and muscular Woo Tae-wook. Adding to this sense of time and tautness was the mesmerizing score by Soo. Woo Tae-wook spent the majority of his solo turning counter-clockwise in one place with his right arm extended straight from his shoulder as if reaching beyond the universe. At one point he used two hands to create an orb that orbited him, moving in the same direction like a moon orbiting a planet. Woo only briefly left his center rotation but when he did, one got a glimpse of the strength of his dancing ability, accented with sharp and fast jabs, only to return to the serenity of his universal center.
LADF International 2024 – (L-R) Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey, Raven Smith, Mara Hancock in “Famine” choreography by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Next, Brockus offered two excerpts from her longer work Quest: Mankind’s Journey set to music by Madredeus. First was the intense Famine, powerfully performed by Mara Hancock, Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey and Raven Smith. Each of the women’s solos explored the effects brought on by famine: hunger, anguish, fear, and desperation. All four proved that they could both dance and act. No Touch Duet highlighted the far too often social taboo of same-sex relationships. Here two men, Arturo Gonzalez and Harry Peterson performed a very complex duet which continued to bring them physically closer and closer, but they rarely ever made contact. When they did, it was as if an electric shock repelled them apart, like a message from an unseen force, that “this is forbidden!” Kudos to both Gonzalez and Peterson for so vividly bringing Brockus’ vision to reality.
LADF International 2024 – Harry Peterson and Arturo Gonzalez (front) in “No Touch Duet” choreography by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Minjung Kang’s stunning work Greeting was an exceptional example of fusing traditional Korean dance with contemporary influences. Even her costume, a gorgeous white long skirt with a touch of red, overlayed with an almost as long white blouse, brought these two worlds together. Adding to this sense of spanning time was the hypnotic score by Taeseok Yang that included chimes, drums and wind instruments.
LADF International 2024 – Minjung Kang in her solo “Greeting” – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Greeting opened with Minjung Kang on the floor, her forehead touching the ground as if in prayer. A long red ribbon, originating from her braided hair, encircled her. The ribbon appeared to represent something very important in her life and became both prop and partner throughout the work. My research found that in Korean culture the color red symbolizes the sun, fire, production, creation, passion and love. It was the latter two that came forward to me during this gorgeous work. Her attention to detail was amazing to watch and even more stunning was to see Minjung Kang seemed to glide across the stage as she ran.
The first half of the program ended with two more pieces by Brockus, Why (excerpt from American Dream) and Love Duet (excerpt from Quest: Mankind’s Journey)
LADF International 2024 – Mara Hancock in “Why” choreography by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
On this night, Why, set to music by Tracy Chapman, brought out the wonderful talents of the tall and lovely Mara Hancock performing a fusion of jazz and contemporary dance styles. Her ability to stop on a dime after executing multiple turns is astonishing, and her silent falls to the floor left me wanting more. The dance was very much a woman’s statement questioning the whys of how the world treats women and I was left with only one objection; the solo was too short.
LADF International 2024 – (L-R) Anne Lee Rohovec, Harry Peterson in “Love Duet” choreograpy by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
With music by Ruffedge, Love Duet was a very nice showcase for dancers Anne Lee Rohovec and Harry Peterson but added little to the endless number of love duets seen for generations. That said, Brockus did stretch her movement vocabulary with intricate partnering and lifts and the dancers were great to watch.
LADF International 2024 – (L-R) Harry Peterson, Arturo Gonzalex, Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey, Anne Lee Rohovec, Raven Smith, Mara Hancock in “City” choreography by Deborah Brockus – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Another excerpt, City, from a larger work Edge of the Sands opened the second half of the program. Here, Brockus made pronounced use of a very long unison movement phrase by how she changed fronts and altered individual timings within the section. The work was performed by five women and two men: Mara Hancock, Rebecca Lee, Jolyn Lambey, Arturo Gonzalez, Raven Smith, Anne Lee Rohovec, and Harry Peterson. The music for City was by Phil Thorton & Hossam Ramzy, and David Holland. Video by Deborah Brockus.
LADF International 2024 – (L-R) Kaitwan Jackson, Himerria Wortham, Andrea Burr in “Table Talks” – Photo by Denise Leitner.
Table Talks was choreographed by Los Angeles based dance artists Himerria Wortham and Andrea Burr in collaboration with Kaitwan Jackson. The trio explored many ways to get three performers on one medium-sized round pedestal table and to display the complicated relationships between them. The work offered as many views into this triangle’s life or negotiations as its creators incorporated the music by The Little Dippers, Caroline Shaw, Roomful of Teeth, Brad Wells, and Floating Points. I very much enjoyed watching the dancers in Table Talks, but I was not always certain of when and why the inner workings of their triangle shifted.
The evening closed with Sibyl – White Flowers, a work filled with symbolism by Choi Ja-in to music by Seo Hee-sook, vocals by Go Hyeon-kyung. Two women, Kang Minjeong and Han Sohee, dressed in beige begin by ceremonially roping off the stage. A third woman, Choi Ja-in, in all white wanders along the back of the space as if in a trance. Woo Tae-wook, his shoulder-length graying hair framing his face as he holds aloft a white plastic bag that resembles a cloud hovering above his head. Dressed in white loose pleated pants and bare chested, Woo Tae-wook begins to move along the perimeter of the roped off area until he and Choi Ja-in meet, and their relationship transforms from calm to entrapped terror.
The program notes state that Sibyl is a shaman who appears in the preface of T.S. Elliot’s novel “The Waste Land” and that the dance is “the story of an old man of our time who longs for dual hope in life and death”. I do not pretend to understand Korean symbolism, but the struggle was quite evident, be it life and death or good vs evil. Choi Ja-in left it to the observer to conclude if the man’s desires were realized.
One hopes that this sharing of international dance cultures will continue long into the future bringing even more countries together.
For more information about the LA Dance Festival, please visit their website.
For more information about the Seoul International Dance Festival in TANK, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: LADF International 2024 – Choi Ja-in and Woo Tae-wook (hidden) in Sibyl – White Flowers– Photo by Denise Leitner.
