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| Poster for "Dream Ritual" / Courtesy of the artist |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
London-based Korean artist Park Bong-su and Korean choreographer and dancer Cha Jin-yeob are presenting "Dream Ritual," introducing Korea's tradition of buying and selling dreams, in London.
The performance, which will be staged at the Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill, London, from July 3 to 6, aims to explore the stages of sleep and subconscious through dance and movements.
"Dream Ritual" begins from the "Samguk Sagi" (History of the Three Kingdoms), the oldest surviving record of Korean history, where the tales of dream transactions are first mentioned. In Korean tradition, people could sell dreams to those who want to buy them for money or other valuable items.
In the performance, Cha plays the character Munhui, who buys a dream and becomes a shaman who travels to the collective unconscious where she encounters the dreams of others.
For the performance, Park received donations of real-life dreams from people through her website. Quotes from these dreams will be projected on thin, sheer organza fabric representing the arcs and ripples of typical sleep brainwaves.
Cha will dance through the fabrics in her ritualistic choreography, accompanied by Haihm's ambient soundtrack. The music will feature real recordings of aboriginal dream ceremonies.
People can submit their dreams for use in the performance through www.dreamritual.org.
Park, who studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in the U.K. and at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux in France, is interested in how people's innermost thoughts connect with the thoughts of others. Her work "finds its roots in the philosophy of her homeland Korea and brings this into the context of contemporary Western societies."
Along with the performance, an exhibition of Park's video pieces will be held at the Print Room studio. Her works explore dreams, mythology and the cycle of life.
Cha, who serves as the artistic director of Collective A, is well-known for directing choreography for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games' opening and closing ceremonies. She worked with the Hofesh Shechter Company and the English National Opera of the U.K. and Galili Dance Company of the Netherlands.
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