No doubt, it has been a whirlwind of a month so far! We are well into November and the SCDT has been working tirelessly and performing more than we have since pre-pandemic! It has been such a blessing overall and we are so thankful.

On November 1, our friends from Choomna Art Center in Seoul. South Korea arrived in Chicago!! If you haven’t heard about our cultural diplomacy program, look no further than our Choreographic Diplomacy tab on the website. We used the first four days of rehearsal to recreate the piece that Artistic Director of Choomna Art Center, Joseph Kim, and Artistic Director of SCDT, Kia S. Smith, began creating in Seoul in 2019. The piece is around thirty minutes in length and includes two duets, a trio, two solos as well as group interactions. The artistic directors split up to create separate chunks of choreography at the top of the week with us dancers and on the third day of rehearsal, we strung together the entire piece.

Joseph works deeply with connection and improvisational work. Each day we were led in improvisational exercises with Joseph to fuel our connection with the group, center our breathing, and foster each artist’s creativity in their natural movement. Using these improv techniques, Joseph crafted two brand new duets that occur during the piece and were specific to the dancers he worked with now in 2021. Working with Joseph led me to trust my instincts, be confident in my choices as a mover, and ultimately made me feel very calm and connected to my movement and my duet partner. One would assume that learning an entire 30 minute piece over four days would be a cause for stress, but for me it was just the opposite. I felt strangely at peace the entire week. Joseph didn’t rush the process, he sat with each decision, and made sure to breathe alongside his dancers. It made me feel comfortable with him from day one. He trusted me, I trusted him, and this allowed for magic to happen choreographically. Being a part of his process definitely encouraged my growth as a dancer. It’s always so fun and a great learning experience to work with new choreographers.

Kia worked with the trio while Joseph was crafting the duets. Her process was slightly different as she stuck with her original intricate choreography from 2019, cleaning and teaching it to three new trio dancers. The trio is extremely forward moving, quirky, and specific. It’s one of the most personality-driven sections of the piece for sure.

After two days of working on this choreographic material, all seven dancers joined together in the studio and we pieced the choreography together in chronological order. We figured out spacing, new group sections, transitions, etc.

Come week two of our South Korean friends being in town, we were already performing the full-length work! It began with an open rehearsal showing on Monday, November 8 and continued throughout the week with dance exchanges at Kenwood Academy High School and with Dyett Dance. We were thrilled to share our dance with high school students in the area as they shared their own choreography and dance routines as well. It is always such a pleasure to look at the young talent and potential around us. To know that the arts are alive and bring joy to kids throughout their school day is always amazing.

Just today we said a “see you later” to our South Korean Seoul-mates! We are counting down the days until we get to see them and dance with them again in February when South Chicago Dance Theatre goes international! Stay tuned for all of our fun adventures then!!