Roleplaying with Choi Jaesun Dance Company

Salon Revolutionar Vol.3
Platoon Kunsthalle


Invading the industrial interior of Seoul’s Platoon Kunsthalle once again, Salon Revolutionar returned with a romping third installment of experimental multimedia art this weekend.

Dance was the main focus of the night as Pure Hybrid Group promised a “new kind of stage performance” using the Cheongdam cargo-container construction’s catwalk to inject elements of gaming, media arts, and projection mapping into the eclectic program’s mix.

The Choi Jaesun Dance Company’s sparky young performers delivered an ambitious and entertaining night showcasing many styles of modern dance against a backdrop of projected images.

A Choi Jaesun Dance Company dancer performs during Salon Revolutionar at Platoon Kunsthalle on Friday. (Kirsty Taylor)

While much effort and many ideas had gone into each section ― or level if you want to stretch the gaming analogy ― the variety of the overall production formed more of a series of stand-alone pieces than a coherent, punchy whole.

The program promised to explore the question: “Are the choices we make really a manifestation of our desires?” and often the dancers did move as if compelled by forces outside their own volition.

The concept was enacted as mesmerized chanting girls in lycra nudes moved into an other-worldly conceptual dance to embody the roleplay game theme. The avatars worked the T-shaped stage to switch between frenzied movement and stylized poses ― by turns seemingly struggling to break free, at others making great efforts to restrain their impulses.

The action moved good-humouredly from the sublime to the silly with stern-faced dancers at one stage adopting a pose akin to Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s “The Four Parts of the World” using a giant yoga ball place of the sculpture’s celestial sphere.

Later followed enjoyable solo performances from dancers who appeared to have closely studied 2010 ballet thriller “Black Swan.” And either choreographer Kim Eun-jee’s filmic inspiration or the black-ruffled dancers themselves were an instant hit ― with their arrival on stage evoking screams of approval from the packed audience.

After some passion-filled performances, the intense ballet erupted into moves fit for club podium dancing, with action later developing into a rather long but gleeful group-dance, with performers’ donning sports sweats to fill the final set with the frivolity of a Gap advert.

Sound artist Jeong Young-kyun did well in providing a slick soundtrack to enliven the various dance styles throughout, and media artist Park Jeong-hyun provided a vivid visual backdrop.

A final surprise came when the back-wall projections took center stage for audience participation with performers leading them in dance moves, callbacks and even a giant game of rock-paper-scissors, with prizes of rubber pigs and chickens thrown to those that had beaten the flashing fists on the screen.

Within moments the show had turned into a giant dance party with the crowd willingly taking up performers’ invitations to invade the stage.

Barriers between artist and audience were smashed to pieces, and it was clear that this was a show best enjoyed with the rulebook shredded at the door.

By Kirsty Taylor (kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)