Dancing to faraway places where memory, dreams weave new lands

Korea Herald

20-02-2025

99 Art Company's 'Les Voyageurs du Lointain' bridges West African, Korean cultures
A group of dancers chant softly, occasionally repeating the phrase "Yiriba, yiriba." Reverently carrying a balafon, the barefoot dancers circle the stage, which trembles gently under their rhythmic stomps.
The scene transports the audience into the world of "pian," a term in Korean that suggests a faraway realm beyond reality.
'Les Voyageurs du Lointain" (French for "The Voyagers to Afar') is a new work by 99 Art Company and one of 31 productions featured in this year's ARKO Selection, the Arts Council Korea's annual performing arts support project. The work had its first run on Feb. 13-16.
Choreographer Jang Hye-rim said the ritual-like scene was inspired by two griots from Burkina Faso, currently living in Korea, who explained how the gourd-resonated xylophone is made. A griot is a hereditary profession in West African culture. Through the preservation of oral histories, griots serve as historians, storytellers, singers, poets and musicians integral to the region's cultural heritage.
Jang got in touch with Emmanuel Migaelle Sanou, a dancer from Burkina Faso living in Korea, and was introduced to two other Burkinabe members of Koule Kan, an African music troupe in Korea, while researching a previous work.
At the audience talk after the performance on Saturday, Salifou Diabate, one of the griots, recounted the stories and explained how the trees used to make the instruments are chosen: The wood must come from a dead tree. Once the tree dies, they wait three years before cutting it down, allowing the wood to bid farewell to its surrounding trees. When the wood is finally cut, it is by hand, not with machines, and the instruments must also be made by hand.
'It was such a beautiful story. I thought, I shouldn't just let this instrument appear, so I created that scene,' Jang explained. The word 'yiriba' means 'big trees,' she added.
The production beautifully merges traditional music and dance from Burkina Faso with Korean dance, creating a unique artistic voyage. It's as if the dancers are performing a ritual for the earth.
Jang noted that Korean dance often draws inspiration from nature, which naturally led her to consider the meaning of land. 'What land?' was the question that soon followed.
'The land we live on is land, but nature's land is also land, and the land that has been destroyed is land, too. All these thoughts led to the realization that the land is not ours but something we have been gifted, a place we must care for,' said Jang.
'This made me ponder over whether we are not also beings of migration. Then, I wondered what it would mean for a human with a history of migration to enter this place.'
But migration here is not limited to movement between countries. At the beginning of the performance, each dancer recounts how they moved from city to city, district to district, all from their birthplaces.
'In the end, this dance depicts the journey of humans or nonhumans who had to leave their native land for various reasons, embarking on a journey toward a faraway land,' said Jang.
The two griots create music on stage using various instruments like the balafon, kora and djembe — some improvised, others rooted in tradition — while the dancers hum and sing along.
With the audience sitting close in a circular formation on stage, tapping feet, brushing fabric and breathing create a delicate soundscape.
'During rehearsals, I usually sit on the floor instead of a chair to feel the energy of the dancers more intimately. When I saw this piece from that perspective, I just loved it. It was crucial to bring the audience into this energy," Jang said.
Jang has been leading the Korean dance-based contemporary dance company since 2014. As its artistic director, she aims to create "dance that resonates with the soul."
Jung, who won the top prize at the Seoul Arts Awards last year for her choreographic piece "Burnt Offering III," hopes to develop works that fully engage the entire ensemble.
The 99 Art Company is preparing for a European tour later this year with "Burnt Offering III."