DANCE
Understanding François Rabelais
At Musée Rabelais in Seuilly, France, the irregularly dented cream tuffeau terra stairs to the homeowner’s bedroom caught my attention. The sixteenth-century French humanist is often mentioned along with Shakespeare, who lived after Rabelais’s time; his writings still influence people’s creativity and satiric way of viewing problematic issues to this date. The soft stoned stairs naturally and gradually comprised the daily footsteps of the Rabelais during his lifetime at home.
The different state of each step’s dented form made me imagine him dancing, jumping up and down the stairs with joy, rage, or walking drunk after an evening of wining and dining.
I climbed my body along the dented spaces of the narrow stairs to travel back in time and feel his energy and state of mind.
Thirteen Directions From Thirteen Individuals (Listening, Physical Responding, Understanding)
Psychologists listen to stories from individuals with diverse needs, striving to assist them. I think one of the primary prerequisites for this is to listen carefully and understand their words, and then respond properly. However, due to various factors - such as surrounding noise, personal biases, and different definitions of terms - it is not easy to fully comprehend their stories. These challenges highlight the significance of a psychologist's skills and role in my view.
To gain insight into the importance of psychologists' work, I conducted an experiment with 13 people, each having different experiences and thoughts. When they give me a direction, I respond with corresponding gestures. The feelings I experience when I cannot hear their directions properly due to noises like the wind, have made me realize the dedication and hard work of psychologists.
The Mother Nature
The Richelieu Park comforts me. For five different years since 2015, I visited here with my family and attended interdisciplinary workshops, each time staying for a duration of three to four weeks.
Much different from the parks in Seoul, nature inspires me every time. The trees, as tall as a seven-story building, mesmerizes me. They also generously provide vast areas of cooling shade for people to enjoy and stay away from the burning summer heat.
My movements help me fully immerse myself in the grand nature of the park to ease into and understand how moving my body helps me release any mental stress I live with.
‘ Thank you ’
This work aims to display gratitude to the brave souls of prisoner’s children in South Korea. After reading a published book with seven essays written by seven prisoner’s children, I came up with this choreography, trying to put myself in their shoes. The general message cries out ‘Help’ as the children’s childhood consisted of countless hardships such as domestic violence, sexual assault, constant displays of injustice towards their rights, and social prejudice once their parents are locked away in prison.
In every essay in the book, the children attempted suicide many times, and I wanted to thank God for keeping them alive. I also wanted to thank the children and SEUM for continuing to fight for their rights and lives and helping them follow their passions and dreams. They now proudly work in their own fields of interest using their relents and also study in many of Korea’s most prestigious colleges.
The work was exhibited in a social campaign exhibition sponsored by Child Welfare Practice Group SEUM, which supports and helps out these children in all ways.
“Thing that We Keep to Protect Ourselves.’ Lions are often called the King of the Jungle. They are powerful, fearless, and courageous. For this work, I focused on their leadership sense and protecting and working as a group (society) to be the King of the jungle.
I regularly encounter people at school who are selfish and narcissistic and do not wish to interact or work together with others. This leads to different levels of bullying and self-harm in teenagers, which I often hear and feel.
I, however, consider the community of great importance. My grandparents gave merit scholarships to underprivileged children talented in writing after the loss of a daughter in a car accident in 1996. My deceased aunt, their first daughter, loved writing. My grandfather also voluntarily worked as a president of an organ-donating foundation in South Korea to encourage people to donate organs as their daughter did to five US citizens.
My parents work with different foundations and organizations to bring social minorities into the majority: teenage single mothers, North Korean refugees, social misfits, prisoner’s children, etc.
Facilitating
Growing up in a household environment where I knew the significance of living together in a society, I made a choreography of living together by protecting each other.
This choreography was created to enter a national dance competition in which my team won 7th out of 28 teams. I recruited teammates through my Instagram account, interviewed every applicant, selected and made a team, and taught and practiced together to prepare for the competition. I mixed the music, went to markets to make stage clothing, and directed the entire process for three months.
Of course, I had many challenging times in the process, with some members exhausted, losing interest, and psychological struggles between members. However, it was worth every minute as I learned how to talk and listen to people’s needs and bring them together as a team to complete the game with success and satisfaction.
Finding Happiness in the US through Dance and Music in the 20th Century
In the 20th century, people in the United States experienced many hardships, including the World War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Economic Depression.
Then, a question came to my mind. ‘How did America continue its dance culture?’
I found the answer to this question through school classes. One of the ways to feel happy in America at that time was through people gathering to sing and dance.
A message was sent through this choreography work I created. Various dance genres were mixed and performed by expressing positive or complicated feelings at the time, such as “We are human,” “We are having a hard time, too,” “We also want to have freedom,” “We can overcome this fight,” etc.
More violent and sharp movements towards the end portray the more difficult times the people faced during this period.
Recruited teammates through my Instagram account. Made choreography, taught my teammates, and practiced with several all-nighters to prepare for the competition during an academic year. Mixed the music, came up with stage clothing ideas.
Directed the entire process for three months.
This work was also performed at a national competition.