The Box, Freespace, West Kowloon | Freespace Dance 2025: Korea National Contemporary Dance Company – Jungle

Description

A place where the instincts of the body and vitality collide

Ritualistic and transfixing, Korea National Contemporary Dance Company’s Jungle is a multi-layered, non-narrative contemplation on life and existence where meaning is created through light, sound and gesture, and stories emerge for the viewer as they might have in the past from flickering flames or rippling waters.

Both modern and ancient, the production reflects the tensions apparent in our everyday lives, between what is revealed and what is hidden, between agitation and calm, connection and isolation, group and individual. In constant flow, like a moving crowd, or a painting in sand and light, the work unfolds in dreamlike scenes with narrative and mood driven by the shifting qualities of light created by Lee Jungyoon and the meditative, repetitive soundscape of Japanese sound artist and composer Marihiko Hara.

The subtle, fluid, unpredictable movements of the dancers reflect the unique choreographic process of KNCDC’s artistic director Kim Sungyong – one which allows texture to be woven from the individual to the whole, with each dancer using the unique gestures of their individual bodies to influence and adapt to the group.

Jungle premiered in 2023 in Seoul and has toured major cities to great acclaim.

* Post-performance meet-the-artist session on 5 December 2025 (Friday)