By Kang Gahui
Video = Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

"Ilmu" (One Dance) by Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre has received an honor from the New York Dance & Performance Awards, dubbed the "Oscars of dance" and also known as the Bessies.

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 21 said choreographers Jeong Hyejin, Kim Sung Hoon and Kim Jaeduk won Best Choreographer/Creators at the awards ceremony the day before in New York.

"Ilmu" is a modern interpretation of the ritual dance of Jongmyo Jeryeak (royal ancestral music), which is designated National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 1 by the Korean government and an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Since its premiere in 2022, the work has earned rave reviews from New York media, selling out all of its shows at Lincoln Center in 2023.

The awards committee called it "a visually mesmerizing, contemporary reinterpretation of ceremonial Korean traditional dance demonstrating a perfect balance between stillness and movement, and culminating in an explosive, athletic, contemporary dance."

Launched in 1983 and named after American choreographer Bessie Schonberg (1906-97), the world-renowned Bessies go to the most innovative works performed in the Big Apple as picked by a jury of artists, producers and critics based there.

kgh89@korea.kr