Bereishit Dance at OZ Arts
Oz Arts Nashville presented Bereishit Dance Company’s internationally acclaimed works “Judo” (premiered in 2014), and “Balance and Imbalance” (premiered in 2010). Choreographed by the award-winning visionary, Soon-ho Park, Bereishit is known for their fusion of diverse movement styles, emphasizing human expression rooted in sound, physicality, and traditional practices. Initially the abstract nature of the pieces had me puzzled. I was intrigued, but unsure why, so I decided to let go and just experience. Abandoning the desire to immediately understand, I was able to find a deeper appreciation and understanding over time. Subtle ideas and nudges for further exploration were planted into my mind taking this approach.
My introduction to Judo as a martial art form was thorough Soon-ho Park’s interpretation. The piece followed a similar set up to traditional Judo practice. It started out slower, warming up the body, and then intensified overtime. This was even shown with the dancers setting up the mats as the starting point for the piece. The dancers, whom I would also consider elite athletes, balanced the heavy mats on their head and moved around with them gracefully. They laid them all down, except one, leaving an empty space open. This space was then filled with a dancer, almost becoming one with the mat. They had him moving slowly between the empty space on the floor as it and him kept being shifted about like a sliding tile puzzle. What started slow then steadily picked up pace.
The use of breath was an amazing addition to exemplify this intensity. It was embedded in the music as part of the Judo flow. It was hard work. The dancers were breathing heavily but harmonically after the intense section of the routine. You could literally see the sweat flying off of them during the show. It was an expression of human strength and mobility at its finest. The amount of intention and training it takes to move with such delicate strength inspired me. With Soon-Ho Park starting Bereishit Dance Company based on the exploration of the relationship between the human body, nature’s physical laws, people, and society, I am not surprised to see these connections. He took Judo and made it an expression of cultural values. In itself Judo is known for aiming not just to curate a strong body, but a strong and peaceful mind and harmonic relationships with others centered around friendship, respect, politeness, and honor. This piece ended with one man getting repeatedly knocked down in the center of the mat. He would get up, and then get knocked down again. This displayed courage, a moral code in Judo, and held a good takeaway for life, being the most important thing to do is to keep getting up.
While “Judo” explored strength and resilience through martial arts, “Balance and Imbalance” focused on the essence of human relationships. I enjoyed how the message being displayed between the two men at the beginning was that of harmony. The touch was caring and loving without being romantic. It showed me what I wish we had more of in American society, men being comfortable with one another on a deep level like that. It took great strength for them to interact with each other in the way they did, quite literally using tension, that of push and pulls to maintain shape within the connection.
I found this piece to showcase traditional values. It had more movements where the men were paired up with women and in general displayed how people can balance life through relying on each other. No person is always at 100% and what is missing from one can be aided by another. I saw the use of tension and release in this piece, where one would almost go limp and then allow themselves to be moved by the other dancer as a statement about the necessity of reliance on others. All of the movements in this piece required great trust among the dancers. The live music in this piece added a lot of emotion. It is called Samulnori, a genre of Korean percussion music which was created with the belief that the working together of its specific four instruments induced perfect harmony in yin and yang, making the music accessible for the gods to listen. They used a small gong to represent thunder and lightning, a large gong to represent wind, an hourglass shaped drum to represent rain, and a barrel drum to symbolize clouds. They combined Samulnori with Pansori, a genre of musical storytelling which was sung and spoken by Kim Eun-kyung. Her voice was lovely and she was able to move emotion with it due to her expressive storytelling.
Since all of the storytelling was in Korean, it made the piece more difficult to follow as I believe the story was a vital part of grasping the full meaning being portrayed through the combination of dance, chant, singing, and music. I still feel I got something from the piece, but the most impactful parts of it to me were where there was no voice and it was just the dancers. It did however spark an unexpected interest in me to learn Korean. Making something that can cross cultures, getting someone with no deep knowledge of the other to now have a desire to learn more is very powerful. Soon-ho Park has this ability. He makes pieces that even those who may not be able to absorb the full intent of the piece, think more about his work.
The amount of skill and training it takes to move with such delicate strength displayed in both pieces inspired me. The next time I went to dance I caught myself building off of the flow of Judo especially. The piece teaches that intense and strong movements come from slow and intentional movement first. It starts out more playful before the focused training begins. I found this as a great way to get in tune with my body and explore movements with more feeling than I have done before. I will be keeping up with Soon-ho Park and his Bereishit Dance Company. It offered me a new experience which I feel I needed to take steps forward in my own life. Not only this but I had the pleasure of meeting Soon-ho Park at an artist exchange the Sunday prior to the show. His character is admirable and he spoke many things of value I will hold onto. His view of this world and the way in which he chooses to do art is something I wish to continue connecting to.
Sources
https://www.ijf.org/moralcode/judo-values/2061
https://www.bereishitdance.com/cv
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Audrey Rose Conley is a sociology student at MTSU with a passion for exploring the transformative power of dance. Her research delves into how dance can challenge social norms, promote individual empowerment, and foster social change. As a rapper and singer, she uses her artistic voice to express these themes and inspire others to embrace their authentic creativity.
