“Spinning the Light of Art” - 2019 International Artist Day Celebration in Taiwan (Formosa), Part 3 of 10, Apr. 3, 2019, Taipei, Taiwan (Formosa)

The next part of the master artists’ lecture is about the essence of the Korean traditional dance. We have invited the lead dancer and choreographer of the National Dance Company of Korea, Mr. Lee Jeong-Yun. Mr. Lee Jeong-Yun and the world-famous ballerina Ms. Kim Joo-Won will bring us three original works by Mr. Lee demonstrating their renowned beautiful and rhythmic dance. Since 2011, Mr. Lee Jeong-Yun has served as the artistic director of the Motion Plant Dance Company of Korea, and head of the Lee Jeong-Yun Dance Troupe. He is a visiting professor at the School of Dance of the Taipei National University of the Arts. “I don’t like to speak too much. Dance does not need language. There’s focus on something, either movement or the music, but they express a lot. Korean dance generally focuses on the human inner world. It is also a kind of self-reflection training. So dance is life and religion. We have always lived on the ground and under the sky, as we are humans. So we call it in Korean ‘the sky, the Earth, and human.’ It means the sky and humans and the ground together have a connection. So, I’m always focused on the breath in the muscles." "I think about getting it inside and then after, outside. And just like wind on the cloud, and I get that feeling in the kung chi, in the air, just like this." "When I lose my way, the focus on tradition makes me know who I am. And this is absolutely clear. I believe tradition is eternal.”