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 all the elements of the jungle, from the animals, plants, winds and lights, to the humans who navigate it. Their movements, with all their senses and responses, are pure and raw.
After strong receptions from audiences in France, Italy, Austria, Kazakhstan and the UAE in 2024, Jungle has its UK premiere at The Place as part of a new European tour.
Established in 2010, Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) is Korea’s only national contemporary dance company. Through dance created in collaboration with artists with exceptional creative capacities, KNCDC aspires to create Korean contemporary dance which tells stories of history, society and daily life of contemporaneity that can be appreciated across regions and by all generations. In May 2023 choreographer Sung-young Kim succeeded as the fifth artistic director of KNCDC.
Based on his philosophy that ‘dance is a language that cannot be described in words’, Sung-young Kim pursues dance as the ‘most truthful means of expression’. He emphasizes that dance is an art to be expressed frankly above all. The movement research ‘Process Init’, which he developed with a focus on sense and reaction, has inspired his use of atypical and creative movement on stage.
Credits
- Choreographer: Sung-young Kim
- Composer and Music Director: Marihiko Hara
- Scenographer: Jae-hun You
- Processors: Seong-ryong Kang, Seung-hyun Kang, Min-ah Kim, Yoon-mee Kim, Yun-hyun Kim, Min-jung Sung, Ji-yeon Yang, Da-jeong Yu, Kyun-gyub Lee, Ji-soo Lee, Jae-woo Jung, Ju-ryung Jung, Hyun-do Jo, Young-don Cheon, Yeon-jin Choi, Ji-hye Ha and Jee-hyun Hong