[KS] RE: Film Screening & TRADITIONAL KOREAN DANCE - YI MAE BANG

[Alina Oh]

Film Screening and Panel Discussion  
Our TWISTED HERO
Based on a novel by Yi Munyol 
April 18, 7:00pm?0:00pm 
The New School's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th
Street, New York, NY  
Yi Munyol is one of Korea's most acclaimed and popular
contemporary fiction writers. This program marks the
first ever publication of a Korean novel in English
translation by a major U.S. publisher. 

Featuring a special presentation and book signing by
Yi Munyol. Panelists will include Heinz Insu Fenkl,
Associate Professor & Director of Creative Writing and
the Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz;
and Bruce Fulton, award-winning translator of Korean
literature.

The "kingdom" of a fifth-grade classroom with its
tyrants, rebels and followers provides a metaphor for
the illegal formation of violent political power,
tyranny and it's downfall - a scenario played out for
nearly a century in Korea's real life history of
foreign occupations, coups and dictatorial regimes. 

Han Pyongt'ae, 40, reads of an old teacher's death and
remembers his school days of 30 years ago, when his
family moved from Seoul to a rural town. In Seoul, Han
was an outstanding student but he soon learns that his
past scholastic achievements mean nothing in Mr.
Choe's fifth-grade class. Han encounters a different
kind of classroom structure where authority and
discipline is held by class monitor Om Sokdae. 

Han believes in the equality of human beings and tries
to challenge Om's authority. Each attempt fails.
Finally Han, his spirit broken, gives up and joins Om
who makes him a favored "lieutenant." 

In 1960, Mr. Kim, a young new teacher, is assigned to
Han's class. Mr. Kim believes that everyone is created
equal and that honesty, truth and courage are most
important in life. Mr. Kim quickly destroys the power
and authority of Om. Humiliated, Om leaves school. 

Attending the funeral of Mr. Choe, Han encounters
traces of Om, the classroom tyrant. He also sees its
hero, the teacher, who stirred up a revolution in the
class. 


"Our Twisted Hero"

Production Company Dae Dong Enterprises Co., Ltd
Year of Production: 1992
Producer: Do Dong-Hwan
Running Time (min): 119
Writer: Lee Munyull
Screenplay(Adaption): Jang Hyeon-Su, Park Jong-Won
Director: Park Jong-won
Assistant Director: Kim Seong-Kyun
Executive Producer: Do Dong-Hwan
Director of Photography: Jeong Kwang-Seok
Asst. Director of Photography: Kim Yun-Su
Gaffer: Cho Kil-Su
Assistant Lighting: Lee Chang-Shik
Music: Song Byeong-Jun
Art Director: Do Yong-Wu
Costumes: Lee Hae-Yun
Editor: Lee Kyeong-Ja
Sound Recording: Kim Kyeong-Il
Sound Effects: Yang Dae-Ho
Still Photographer: Hwang Hyeong-Shik
Synchronous Sound Recording: Yoo Dae-Hyeon
                                  
Cast:
Ko Jeong-Il, Hong Kyeong-In, Choi Min-Shik, Tae
Min-Young, Shin Ku,
Lee Jin-Seon, Woo Sang-Jeon, Kim Hye-Ok, Park
Kwang-Jin, Jeong Wun-Bong

Awards:
Grand Prix Prize for Best Film, Special Prize (Hong
Kyeong-In) at the 29th Korea Baek Sang Art Award
Invited to the field of best Asian Films at the 6th
Singapore International Film Festival
Prize for Assistant Actor (Choi Min-shik) at 38th
Asian Pacific Film Festival
Special Prize (Executive production) at 17th Montreal
Film Festival
Jurors Special Prize for Lighting and Editing at the
31st Dae Jong Award Festival
Prize for Best Film/Director(Hong Kyeong-In,Ko
Jeong-Il,Jeong Jin-Kang,Moon Hyeok) at the 13th Chung
Ryong Film Award
Prize for Best Actor (Hong Kyeong-In, Ko Jeong-Il) at
the 3rd Chun Sa Film Art Award

Free Admission. RSVP requested. Contact HyoSung Bidol
at 212-759-7525 ext. 28 or
hyosung.ny at koreasociety.org. Co-presented with The New
School Diversity Committee. Co-sponsored by Hyperion
East, The Korean Cultural Service, PEN American Center
Freedom-to-Write Committee and NewYorkSeoul.com. 

 

 

Dance Tour 
STILLNESS IN MOVEMENT: YI MAE BANG PERFORMS
TRADITIONAL KOREAN DANCE 
April 25-May 4  
The legendary Korean dancer Yi Mae Bang will make his
U.S. debut as the featured performer in a tour
organized by The Korea Society under the auspices of
its on-going Old Roots-New Branches: Korean Performing
Arts Series. Yi will be accompanied by ten senior
members of his dance company. The program will
introduce American audiences to a diverse array of
traditional Korean dances. 

The Old Roots-New Branches: Korean Performing Arts
Series is made possible, in part, by support from the
Freeman Foundation. Each of the performances in the
tour will be co-presented by The Korea Society and the
respective collaborating venues.

 

Program Description

The program will feature dances from the folk
tradition, which incorporate both Buddhist and
Shamanic influences. The highlight of the program will
be solo performances by Yi Mae Bang of his signature
pieces, Sungmu and Salp'uri (see below). The
accompanying dancers will present a representative
array of traditional dances, including Sap'um
Chong'gam ("Gentlemen Scholar's Dance), Kommu ("Sword
Dance"), Mudangch'um ("Shaman's Dance"), Kiwonmu
("Supplication Dance") and Hwarangdo ("Flower Youth
Movement Dance").

 

Dates & Venues

April 25 ?8:00pm 
Concert Hall, Staller Center for the Arts 
State University of New York at Stony Brook 
Stonybrook, NY 

April 28 ?5:30pm 
Kaufman Theater 
American Museum of Natural History 
New York, NY

April 30 ?7:30pm 
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 
Washington, DC

May 4 ?Time TBA 
Outreach College 
University of Hawai'i at Manoa 
Honolulu, HI  

 

About the Artist

During a career spanning over 65 years, Yi Mae Bang
has provided living testimony to the resilience of the
Korean dance tradition during the most turbulent
period of modern Korean history. A quintessential
traditional Korean dancer, whose movements are
considered to embody the ideal of a spiritualized
inner energy, Yi also has played a unique role as a
leading dance educator. His students constitute a
veritable "Who's Who" in the contemporary dance field
in Korea, and some are also actively pursuing careers
in the United States and other parts of the world. 

Born in 1927 into the family of a famed dancer and
teacher, Yi began his dance training as soon as he
started to walk. From the age of five, he began his
formal training in one of the traditional performing
arts academies (kwonbon) which were the only
institutionalized means for transmitting the
traditional performing arts in Korea until the end of
WWII. His training included the study of musical
instruments and singing, as well as dance, which he
studied under the tutelage of such famed dancers as Yi
Chang Cho and Pak Yong Ku. 

Yi 's early years were marked by intensive exposure to
the dances of China, Japan and the West. At the same
time, he worked to preserve the two most well known of
all traditional Korean folk dances: Sungmu ("Monk
Dance"), which comes from the Buddhist tradition, and
Salp'uri ("Spirit-Cleansing Dance"), which stems from
Shamanic rituals. Yi has been designated a Living
National Treasure by the Korean government for his
contributions to the preservation of these two major
intangible cultural properties. It is a great honor to
be designated for even one category; and being so
designated in two categories is extremely rare. 

Among his numerous encounters with artists of
different nationalities and genres, Yi received
lessons from the renowned Chinese Peking Opera artist
Mei Lan-fang. As a gesture of respect, Yi adopted the
first and last characters of this artist's name as his
own professional name: Mae (Chinese: Mei) and Bang
(Chinese: Fang). His exposure to Western modern dance
was through Pae Ki Ja, a pioneering Korean dancer who
studied modern dance in Japan and provided Yi with his
first opportunity to appear on stage. 

Yi's definition of the quintessential characteristics
of traditional Korean dance is "stillness in movement"
or "non-movement through movement." It is his
intention to express the dichotomy of yin and yang,
light and dark, and power and grace through the medium
of dance. He expresses these opposing forces in dance
and this dichotomy is manifested in movements that are
at once effortless and light, forceful and strong. 

For further information, contact HyoSung Bidol at
212-759-7525, ext. 28 or hyosung.ny at koreasociety.org. 


=====
Be well,

Karen Kriegel

331 West 57th Street, Suite # 144, New York, New York  10019
PICNICWITHDIOGENES at YAHOO.COM
212-662-6970