How do the smallest decisions ripple outward, carrying profound impacts that shape our lives? An otherworldly dance performance and immersive installation across two spaces by Korean, Berlin-based dancer and choreographer Hea Min Jung. code of engagement is a spiritual journey through the liminal spaces between childhood and death, where innocence and finality converge. It reveals how the smallest … [Read More]
Category: Performance
Plays, musicals, dance
Sung Im Her: 1 Degree Celsius
Through her electrifying movement style, the choreographer invites us to consider the question of how art can spark action in the face of the climate crisis. Featuring seven dancers, 1 Degree Celsius looks at the topic of climate change and the effects it is having on the environment. As with all Her’s work, music and … [Read More]
Seoul Arts Centre on Screen: Shim Chung
Back by popular demand, Shim Chung returns to the Korean Cultural Centre UK as part of the SAC on Screen series. This beloved ballet, performed by the Universal Ballet Company, retells the timeless Korean folktale of a devoted daughter who sacrifices herself to restore her blind father’s sight — and is miraculously reborn in a … [Read More]
Summers: a play by Heejin Kim
Today, the Earth is quietly heating up. A boy sets out to fight the sun. A girl silently watches over him. Together, they witness a village consumed by fire. The boy becomes an environmentalist. The girl has no choice but to work at a factory to make a living. The boy becomes a “cool” environmentalist—trying … [Read More]
Korean performers at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival and Fringe
The Edinburgh International Festival has announced its programme for 2025, and the Fringe website is up and running with their acts. Below are the performers with Korean connections that we’ve managed to identify so far. We’ll update this post if we discover more productions – it’s likely that this is not a complete list. 1. … [Read More]
Bongsan Talchum: The Spirit of Satire
“Bongsan Talchum—The Spirit of Satire” explores the role of masks, movement, and humour in traditional Korean performance arts. Dating back to the late Joseon Dynasty, this dance-theatre tradition has served as a playful yet sharp critique of power structures, social norms, and human nature. Through the visual exhibits, our exhibition will bring this UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage … [Read More]
4482 Artist Talk + Performance Art with Donna Kim
Welcome to 4482 (SASAPARI) Art Talk series! The theme of ‘K-Art Now’ this year is ‘Performance Art & Installation Art’. Please join us for an enchanting artist talk and live performance with Donna Kim, a movement artist who delves into the essence of her being through the language of dance. Her artistry is a passionate journey of exploration and … [Read More]
New Diorama Theatre presents Container
New Diorama Theatre presents the world premiere of Container, a multi-vocal performance by British-Korean poet / theatre maker / artist Alan Fielden, exploring the violence and tenderness of living through catastrophe. Drawing influence from Laurie Anderson’s music and Robert Ashley’s television operas, Container makes use of overlapping choral narratives, live music and polyphonic sound to … [Read More]
Lear Screening + Q&A with Director Jung Young-doo
To celebrate Director Jung Young-Doo‘s Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, a special screening of the National Changgeuk Company‘s Lear will be held. Changgeuk, a traditional form of Korean musical theatre, blends music, dance, and drama to create a captivating experience. Following its successful world premiere at the Barbican Centre in 2024, this screening of the full-length … [Read More]
Festival of Korean Dance 2025 – programme details announced
Here’s the official press release for the 2025 Festival of Korean dance. This year, in addition to performances at The Place in London, the festival tours to Bournemouth, Salford and Newcastle. A Festival of Korean Dance returns for its eighth year with 17-strong ensemble headliner and a live rock band Presented by the Korean Cultural … [Read More]
K-Dance 2025 on tour to Bournemouth, Salford and Newcastle
The 2025 Festival of Korean Dance visits three venues outside of London: the double bill Kontemporary Korea visits Bournemouth (9 May) and Newcastle (15 May), while Ham:beth by Modern Table visits Salford (20 May). Modern Table’s programme is identical to their performance at the Place (programme details here), but the Kontemporary Korea programme is different … [Read More]
K-Dance 2025: Ham:beth by Modern Table
Boy-band meets Shakespearean drama in this energetic all-male show by Modern Table. Seven dancers in slick suits battle against the pressure to conform. Claiming their right to desire, their quests push them into becoming lone heroes. Loosely inspired by depictions of madness in Hamlet and Macbeth, Ham:beth combines traditional Korean songs with a live rock … [Read More]
K-Dance 2025: Kontemporary Korea: A Double Bill of K:Dance
Kontemporary Korea is a showcase of two of the freshest new voices in K-dance, each finding inspiration and play in the balance between the mundane and the virtuosic. The event will be followed by a post-show discussion. 0g (zero grams) by Melancholy Dance Company Inspired by the repetitive and seemingly pointless actions of the mythical figure Sisyphus, 0g utilises the … [Read More]
K-Dance Seminar – Choreographic Humour: Korean-British Connections and Divergences
How does humour function in contemporary choreography? What comic affinities might there be between Korean and British choreographers, and how do their approaches differ? This seminar brings together artists featured in A Festival of Korean Dancein recent years with UK-based artists affiliated with The Place, for a discussion around dance’s potential to transform the conventions … [Read More]
K-Dance 2025: Jungle by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
Amid the chaos we create order. Jungle is our life. A seventeen-strong company gathers onstage for an extraordinary spectacle of vitality. Based on ‘Process Init’, an unconventional movement research method developed by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company’s artistic director Sung-young Kim, Jungle is full of wildly instinctive movements which expand and unfurl, rich with the energy of survival. The dancers embody … [Read More]
Kim’s Convenience: nationwide theatre tour
Now a global smash hit, this hilarious and heartwarming drama about a family-run Korean store that inspired the Netflix phenomenon, is written by Ins Choi, who calls the play his “love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who now call Canada their home.” After two successful runs in London in 2024, the … [Read More]