ReviewSeoul dance troupe's contemporary take on shamanic rituals
Summary
Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre’s new work, Gut: Whispering Steps, turns Korean shamanic ritual into a contemporary meditation on suffering, healing and self-liberation. Artistic director Yun Hea-joung says the piece argues that people must pursue blessings through their own body and will, not wait for rescue. The production also seeks to reclaim gut from colonial-era stigma. It runs from Thursday to Sunday at the Sejong Center’s Grand Theater.
Key Facts
- The work unfolds through five variations of tears tied to obangsaek, the five cardinal colors in Korean tradition: black, yellow, blue, red and white.
- The final mugamseogi scene features 45 performers, divided into groups of nine in each of the five colors.
- Composer Lee Hanuri reworked the rhythms of Seoul gut and the sounds of ritual objects into a contemporary score.
- Pansori performer Kim Yul-hee joined the production, while Ki Moo-gan served as co-choreographer and performer.
- Film director Jang Cheol-soo contributed cinematic media art for the stage.
Dancers attempt to bring out meditation, salvation through 'Gut: Whispering Steps'
Dancers from the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre perform at a press preview of the company’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” turned little-known shamanic rituals in Korea into a contemporary meditation on suffering, pain and the difficult work of saving oneself.
Known as "gut," shamanic ritual was a communication tool between the living and the deceased. A shaman served as a helper in the communication. Usually, descendants sought health, luck and suffering-free life from their ancestors.
Gut from Seoul and neighboring regions, in particular, offers a unique session called "mugamseogi," during which a client gets dressed like a shaman and performs a spontaneous dance.
The premise was simple but forceful: Blessings were not merely granted to those who wait for them. They must be pursued through one’s body and will. That became the source of inspiration for the dance production.
Dancers from the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre perform at a press preview of the company’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
The new work, created by Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre's artistic director Yun Hea-joung, unfolds the pain, memories, healing and liberation of human life through five variations of tears, each tied to “obangsaek,” the five cardinal colors in Korean tradition: black, yellow, blue, red and white.
“The key to escaping pain and anguish is in one’s own heart,” Yun said during a press preview, Thursday. “You cannot remain helpless, waiting for an external absolute being to descend and rescue you from suffering.”
Yun also said the work seeks to reclaim gut from the stigma attached to it during the Japanese colonial period, when it was disparaged as superstition.
“Gut and shamans were part of our ancestors’ communal life,” she said. “When something happened, people held a gut, brought food and shared it. It was an everyday gathering that became a festival.”
Dancers from the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre perform at a press preview of the company’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
The stage begins in black tears. Dancers appear as bodies trapped by painful memories move through a dark landscape of emotional weight. Yellow tears bring awareness of one’s own wounds, while blue tears create distance from memory and open a small space for hope.
By the red-tears section, suppressed emotions burst outward through more forceful movement and sound. White tears, in the final stage, arrive as a state of calm after pain has been fully confronted.
The most striking scene comes in the final chapter: 45 performers, divided into groups of nine in each of the five colors, fill the stage for the collective "mugamseogi." Their individual acts of release expand into a communal dance of liberation.
Dancers from the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre perform at a press preview of the company’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis
The performance closes without promising a final escape from life’s burdens. As dancers reveal their individual movement and leave the stage, a shaman gathers the garments they leave behind, suggesting that life goes on.
Making his first foray into dance music, composer Lee Hanuri reworked the rhythms of Seoul gut and the sounds of ritual objects into a contemporary score.
Pansori performer Kim Yul-hee joined the production, along with dancer Ki Moo-gan from Mnet’s 2024 dance-survival competition who served as co-choreographer and performer.
Film director Jang Cheol-soo, whose credits include “Bedevilled” (2010) and “Secretly, Greatly” (2013), contributed cinematic media art for the stage.
A dancer from the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre performs at a press preview of the company’s new work, “Gut: Whispering Steps,” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis
“In the end, we have to wipe our own tears,” Yun said. “I hope audiences find a little courage and comfort to soothe their own hearts and move forward.”
“Gut: Whispering Steps” runs from Thursday to Sunday at the Sejong Center’s Grand Theater.
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