November 7-9: Korean Culture Week at the Kennedy Center

The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. is proud to present the Second Annual Korean Culture Week at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, November 7-9, 2017. This three-day event will take American audiences on a journey spanning ancient Korean folk culture to the dynamic contemporary arts of today, through a diversity of richly textured live performances.

Millennium Stage at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566

FREE ADMISSION

Terrace Theater at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Ticket Purchase HERE

Korean Cultural Center: 202-797-6343

Kennedy Center: www.kennedy-center.org or 202-467-4600

Contemporary Dance Performance

The acclaimed Seoul-based Bereishit Dance Company approaches Korean traditional culture from a contemporary view: keeping the fundamental value of things, as opposed to simply borrowing or transforming them. Balance and Imbalance juxtaposes the dancers alongside drummers and singers of the traditional Korean vocal storytelling genre pansori, while sport meets dance in the rigorous male duet Bow Control, inspired by the Korean tradition of archery.

The company is known to display an amazing sensitivity towards space and rhythm, offering performances delivered with kinesthetic clarity and power. Bereishit Dance Company has extensively toured internationally including shows at at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Dance Salad Festival in Houston.

Traditional and Modern Korean Music Performance

World Music Ensemble E-Do is an ensemble of six talented musicians who combine traditional and contemporary rhythms with consummate ease. The group’s name comes from the first name of King Sejong the Great, a towering figure during Korea’s ancient Joseon Dynasty. The philosophical background for E-Do’s music is to create music for the modern era that can be enjoyed by all and to share it freely in Korea and beyond.

E-Do presents audiences with the traditions of Korean traditional music, known as gugak, as well as modern Korean music, along with an engaging mix of traditional and modern instruments, highlighting the beauty and balance of traditional Korean music. The group’s works include original songs based on traditional music as well as fresh interpretations of traditional repertoires.

Contemporary Ballet Performance

In the modern ballet Work, the celebrated Kim Yong-geol Dance Theater turns traditional ballet on its head by deconstructing its fundamentals and recreating the art form as a thoroughly modern physical, visual, and auditory experience for today’s audiences. As iconic ballet practice bars are dragged into the rafters, clanging with sound, dancers practice and perform to live music and dramatic lighting that reveal the core emotion of ballet’s physical language. As is often the case in modern Korean arts, this performance also offers a two-way interaction. Live music is performed to the sensitive movements of dancers, with both artists feeling the piece together and exuding a natural synergy. Details HERE.