Jungle by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
A Festival of Korean Dance 2025
About Jungle by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
The dancers move seamlessly through coolly sustained balances, and a radiant calligraphy of torso and limb. Arms glide like wings, legs extend in flickering stabs, bodies are held in quiet equipoise.
The Guardian on Immixture
The profound discipline, dynamism and musicality of this company is on clear display (…) and makes for a truly electrifying performance.
Quays Life
It's like tuning violin strings when you hit a perfect fifth and all of a sudden it sings.
The Guardian on Everything Falls Dramatic
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.
The performance on 7 May will be followed by a post-show discussion.
About Korea National Contemporary Dance Company
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.
About the choreographer
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.
Cast & 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
The performance is part of A Festival of Korean Dance, supported by the Korean Cultural Centre UK and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. The festival is presented in partnership with The Place, The Lowry, Dance City, and Pavilion Dance South West.
