SEOUL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL

Le Monde and The New York Times! A performance acclaimed by the media with high praise. A hip-hop epic piece, free but controlled movements defying gravity

Borderline marks a turning point in Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang’s research and choreographic language. The dance evolves into a dialogue between technique and the art of rigging, reflecting on human relationships including democratic life of our reality. Social boundaries are evoked by the interplay of physical forces on the stage as well as through the testimonies - collected from the friends and relatives of the dancers or the media which are broadcasted in voice over. With great fluidity, the piece displays accents of acrobatics, visual poetry and the urban universe.

The stage set, which is well-known as ‘Deus Ex Machina’ in Greek tragedy, leads the audience to a state of zero gravity that creates poetics transcending time. Interacting with the manipulator, the body becomes an object of a ‘weight game’ and ‘balance and freedom.’ Five dancers connected to the cable perform in every form of dance, particularly making clear the aspiration for freedom pursued by hip-hop. In this genre, the dancers face the audience with their various feet movements and the performance that goes defying. The dancers’ movement and costume recall humans’ inner desire and anguish, as well as the images of Greek and Korean tradition. In addition, a new space is secured to devise new movements, between aspiration for freedom and violence that traps human body on the ground.