Ballet explores independence fighter's last moments

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Tue, October 3, 2023 | 03:08

Theater & Others

Ballet explores independence fighter's last moments

Posted : 2021-08-13 09:46

Updated : 2021-08-13 10:09

The ballet "Ahn Jung Geun, a Dance in the Heaven" is performed at the Seoul Arts Center during a press event, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Poster for the ballet "Ahn Jung Geun, a Dance in the Heaven" / Courtesy of the Seoul Arts Center

"I will dance and shout hurrah when I hear the news of Korea's independence in heaven," independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun said right before he was executed at Lushun Prison in March 1910 for assassinating Hirobumi Ito ― a former four-term prime minister of Japan and the first resident-general of Korea while it was a protectorate of the Empire of Japan ― at China's Harbin Railway Station in October 1909.

Ahn's life and his last moments have been adapted into films, musicals and plays, but there have not been many dance performances about the national hero.

The ballet performance "Ahn Jung Geun, a Dance in the Heaven," which was choreographed in 2015 by Moon Byung-nam, head of M Ballet Company, was inspired by Ahn's last words. The dance, centering on human agony and the hero's growth, will be performed to audiences at the Seoul Arts Center from Aug. 13 to 15, while Korea is marking the 76th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese occupation, on Aug. 15. This year is the 111th anniversary of Ahn's death.

With an upgraded stage, music and costumes, ballet dancers in the performance include Korean National Ballet (KNB) principal dancer Park Ye-eun and Universal Ballet principal dancers Lee Dong-tak and Kang Min-woo, as well as freelance dancers including Yoon Jeon-il and dance professors such as Kim Ji-young and Kim Soon-jung.

Lee Dong-tak (as Ahn Jung-geun) and Kim Ji-young (as Kim A-ryeo) perform during a press event for the ballet "Ahn Jung Geun, a Dance in the Heaven," at the Seoul Arts Center on Wednesday. Courtesy of the Seoul Arts Center

"I wanted to express what he was thinking as an individual after receiving his death sentence," Moon said during a press event on Wednesday.

Yang Young-eun, director of the performance, said, "We tried to focus on his life in Russia's Primorsky Krai, where he fled to join the Righteous Army to fight Japan. During that time, he grew up and became a hero. I focused on showing his inner state of mind and directed the performance so that audiences can resonate with Ahn's emotions. I also focused on the stage, so that it can narrate and support the development of the story."

The highlight of the show is a "pas de deux" or dance duet, of Ahn dancing with his wife in a dream right before his execution.

"In the scene in which Ahn and his wife Kim A-yeo meet, I tried to show that they are illusions. In the ending scene, where Ahn enters the backstage from a door, and the door closes afterwards, I tried to include the hope that we might be able to locate his remains and bring them back to Korea."

Kim Ji-young, who plays Kim A-ryeo, Ahn's wife, said, "I conducted research about Kim A-ryeo, who is not well-known. But she was the daughter of an upper-class family, and had a Catholic background. She was probably a more modern person. The era was gloomy and being in love with someone might have been seen as a luxury. But perhaps Ahn was able to keep on living due to his love for his wife, and that is what I tried to express."

jwpark@koreatimes.co.kr