Voyage/ Hakkō by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company

A Festival of Korean Dance 2026

A group of dancers in matching costumes of light, draped sleeveless tops and loose light purple trousers is spread across a blue-lit stage. In the forefront, a dancer crouches, arms crossed over their chest in a self-contained, inward gesture, head tilted downward. Behind them, the ensemble holds a static pose, crouching with arms extended to the sides, while one dancer stands sideways, likewise stretching their arms outward.
Voyage by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company. Photo by Choi Keunou

About Voyage/ Hakkō by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company

Festival favourite Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) returns with a contrasting double bill which showcases the talent and precision of the company’s dancers, including the latest work from choreographer Young-doo Jung since his 2025 Olivier Award nomination for Lear at the Barbican.

In Jung’s Voyage, a solitary spacecraft moves towards a singular point. Drawing inspiration from the Voyager deep-space probes launched in 1977 which dedicated a lifetime to venturing towards the unknown, Voyage attempts to pause the present moment and lead us into an uncharted world beyond our experience. The score intertwines the sounds of the 'Golden Record' - a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk sent into space by NASA, containing sounds which aimed to capture life and culture on Earth for aliens - with rock, classical music, and Korean traditional rhythms.

Inspired by the repetitive actions of the traditional Japanese cup-and-ball toy ‘kendama’, Ryu Suzuki’s Hakkō explores the gradual transformation of body and mind through focussed iterations of the simplest movements. The dancers enter a trance-like state of deep concentration, giving Hakkō an intense energy which draws from club culture and electronic music - a modern prayer to keep breathing in a world of perpetual flux.

About Korea National Contemporary Dance Company

Korea’s only national contemporary dance company, KNCDC collaborates with artists of outstanding creative vision to create contemporary dance works that reflect history, society, and everyday life in modern Korea—resonating with audiences across regions and generations. In May 2023, choreographer Sung-yong Kim was appointed as the fifth Artistic Director of KNCDC.

www.kncdc.kr

IG: @kncdc

About Young-doo Jung

Young-doo Jung is a choreographer, director, dancer and actor who experiments with a wide range of forms and systems in choreography and composition, focusing on margins, breaths and subtle changes rather than excessive movement. His work aims to handle the density and rhythm of movement with delicacy.

Jung began his career as a theatre actor in 1992. He later majored in choreography at the Korea National University of Arts (School of Dance and School of Korean Traditional Arts). In 2003, he founded the dance company Doo Dance Theater and began his choreographic practice. He undertook a residency at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours in 2004 and completed the composition workshop led by Susan Buirge at Royaumont in 2004 and 2006. Jung also participated in the Grand Atelier project in 2007.

He taught technique, choreography, and composition at Rikkyo University in Japan (Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts) from 2013 to 2017. He also served on the faculty of the Korean National University of Arts (School of Choreography and School of Korean Traditional Arts) from 2018 to 2021.

His major works include the opera Hwajeonga (2025), the Korean traditional music theatre (changgeuk) Lear (2022), With (2022), In the Land of Punctuation (2021), Symphony in C (2018), Fugue (2015), A Seventh Man (2003), and Craving for More (2003).

In 2025 he was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the Laurence Olivier Awards for Lear. He has also won the Choreographer of the Year Dance Arts Award from Monthly Dance Magazine Momm, and the Yokohama Arts Foundation Prize and French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographer, Yokohama Dance Collection, in 2004.

About Ryu Suzuki

Ryu Suzuki is a choreographer developing a distinctive language within the Japanese contemporary dance scene. Born and raised in Japan, Suzuki graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance with a first-class honours degree. Whilst at Rambert, he was chosen to appear in ItzikGalili's A Linha Curva in Rambert Dance Company's UK tour. After graduating, he joined Phoenix Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Sharon Watson.

Since leaving Phoenix in 2012, he has worked with Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Philippe Decouflé, Tero Saarinen, Inbal Pinto/Avshalom Pollak, Ella Rothchild, Tristan Sharps, Motoko Hirayama, Ryohei Kondo and Kenta Kojiri, amongst many others.

As a choreographer, he has created works for prestigious dance institutions including Dance Base Yokohama (Japan), AURA Dance Theatre (Lithuania), AttakkalariCentre for Movement Arts (India) and more. His pieces have been performed domestically and internationally, in the U.K., Spain, Italy, France, Romania, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and China.

Agnus (2013) won the Session Best Prize from Kagurazaka Session House, whilst BU (2015) won the Prize for Young Choreographer from the French Embassy, the MASDANSA Prize and the FITS Award from Sibiu International Performing Arts Festival.

He was Associate Choreographer at Dance Base Yokohama from 2020 to 2023, and is now its Resident Choreographer.

Cast & Creatives

Voyage

Choreographer: Young-doo Jung

Movement Co-Creation & Dancers: Da-som Kang, Yu-jin An, Soo-yeon Lee, You-jin Lee, Jin-woo Lee, Hyeon-soo Jeon, Sun-min Jung, Yoon-hee Choi

Composer & Music Director: Jae-rock Park

Costume Designer: Young-jin Kim

Hakkō

Choreographer: Ryu Suzuki

Dancers: Myeong-seon Kim, Eun-joo Kim, Joo-ho Roh, Min-ji Park, Jun-young Park, Mo-sung Ok, Jeong-eun Lee, Jong-ung Jeong

Composer & Music Director: Tatsuki Amano

Costume Designer: Ho-jin Jeong


Lighting Designer: Jung-hwa Kim

Stage Manager: Eun-jin Jo

Sound Director: Dong-june Lee

Credits

Part of A Festival of Korean Dance 2026, presented by The Place and the Korean Cultural Centre UK, in partnership with Lowry, Tramway, Dance City and Pavilion Dance South West, and supported by SIDance and MODAFE.

Hakkō was developed from a creative research project initiated through TAMA (2024) and Wings - an international dance project for emerging creators at Dance Base Yokohama.

  • Two people, wearing matching costumes with light sleeveless tops featuring apron-like bottoms and long loose ties, paired with loose light purple trousers, are captured from the knees up. They face each other, leaning in so their left cheeks touch, with their arms extended alongside their bodies.
  • On a dark blue-lit stage, a group of dancers in matching light sleeveless tops and loose trousers is caught mid-jump in unison, all reaching a similar height. Their arms are extended forward along their bodies, hands turned toward the audience with palms open. Their heads tilt downward, knees bent, and beneath them, pronounced shadows of their silhouettes stretch across the stage.
  • Three performers on a blue-lit stage, wearing matching costumes consisting of light grey sleeveless tops and loose light purple bottoms, captured from the knees up. From left to right: the first two performers are aligned, facing the same direction. Both lean their torsos to the right, bow their heads, bend their knees, and extend their left arms forward to rest them on the shoulder of the performer in front. On the far right, the third performer faces the other two, supporting the middle performer’s head with their hand.
  • A group of contemporary dancers in black, sequined sleeveless costumes perform on a dark stage under pink and purple lighting. In focus, a dancer leans forward with an extended arm, others around them mirroring the pose.
  • A group of dancers performs on a stage. They wear draped black sequined tops and matching trousers that catch the light subtly.
  • On stage, a group of dancers wearing black sequined sleeveless tops and matching trousers perform in a loose circular formation. One dancer is in sharp focus in the foreground. All balance on one leg while arching slightly back, with their arms opened out to the sides.

Choose dates and book

  • :Lowry, Salford. Book Now

  • :Lowry, Salford. Book Now