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Disasters---both near and distant---change us in ways that escape words. Loss reveals truths about ourselves and the ties that connect us.
Jungwoong Kim
Merging traditional and improvisational movement and music, voice, and experimental video, SaltSoul investigates three tragedies---two that happened in Jungwoong Kims native South Korea, and one in his adopted home of Philadelphia. Kim and a cast of accomplished collaborating artists transform spaces throughout and behind Asian Arts Initiative, a Philadelphia arts center, to probe the role that art can play in mediating private and communal grief in the face of a constant stream of personal and global tragedy. The performance begins outside Asian Arts Initiative in the Pearl Street corridor with an invocation that is free and open to the public. From there, ticket-holding audience members enter inside to move with the dancers and musicians among the centers three floors, through imagined environments evoked by sound, light, and video.
Born and raised in South Korea, Jungwoong Kim had extensive training in martial arts and Korean traditional dance and ritual, both of which strongly inform his artistic vision and aesthetic. After graduating from Korea National University of the Arts in Seoul with a BFA in choreography, he performed and toured throughout Korea and Asia with the award-winning dance/theater group Trust Dance, and with other ensembles. Jungwoongs choreographic and collaborative works were presented at the National Theater of Korea and supported by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. In 2005 an award from the Arts Council of Korea brought him to New York City for advanced studies in Contact Improvisation and choreography. Since settling in Philadelphia in 2010, Jungwoong has maintained an active creative practice, collaborating with his dance and life partner Marion Ramirez, performing with the Leah Stein Dance Company, creating choreography for theater productions, and teaching dance and improvisation. Since 2015 he has been an artist-in-residence at Asian Arts Initiative. In 2015 he received a grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in support of SaltSoul.
Kims collaborators in SaltSoul are: Marion Ramirez, Merian Soto, Germaine Ingram, Bhob Rainey, gamin, and Fred Hatt.
SaltSoul is supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the Knight Foundation, and created as part of a Performance and Multi-Disciplinary Artist Residency Program of Asian Arts Initiative.
More information can be found at saltsouldance.com and www.asianartsinitiative.org
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LocationAsian Arts Initiative (View)
1219 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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