Modern Table: Analyzing an Expressive Performance of 'Darkness PooBa' - Essay Sample

Introduction

Modern Table is a contemporary dance company led by choreographer Kim Jae-duk. They blend genres of musical theatre, rock, hip-hop, and pan-sori (Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer) in the performances. Their signature production is Darkness PooBa, which is "inspired by the Korean tradition of outspoken itinerant entertainers known as poomba" (Modern Table-Millennium Stage, 2016) ). This essay will analyze one particular performance, held on October 22, 2016., at the Kennedy Center as part of the First Annual Korean Culture Week.

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The concert begins with the master of a ceremony welcoming the visitors and asking them to enjoy the dance. He also urges them to go and read about the culture and the theme behind the famous Korean Culture behind the inspiration of the song. The song has incorporated the elements dance very effectively to bring out the message they intended to pass to the audience. The dancers utilized the space element of dance effectively through their calculated movements, which made their bodies project different shapes to give their message. The focus and directions in their movements showed the coordination in their performance, which led to the overall success of the delivery.

The time element of dance was well incorporated, too, in the performance by the dancers who kept on increasing in number from the initial ones that started the presentation. They kept on adding and reducing in their numbers, and the new additions introduced some new movements or added to the aura of the movements that were being performed at the moment. The beat and the tempo of the music background resonated with the moves from the dancers making the performance even more appealing and fun to watch. The music consisted of accents and lows that showed there was a change in the mood or whatever was being talked about in the choreography.

Another well thought out element of the dance was the force, which translates to the energy that the dancers had on the stage. They showed their energy through the various movements where, in some instances, they were energetic and with a force that signified a message of liking the topic and theme. On another point, they performed slow and tensed movements projecting a different message altogether. The music enhanced their movements in some instances, while in some, it slowed them down to the tensed movements. The high and low beats of the music was significant in the performance of the dance.

The dancers wore black suits, which was used to portray the message behind the dance and why it was the way it is. Black is a sign of sorrow and serious situations, and thus it fits perfectly with the theme the choreographer intended to pass across. The lighting and the music enhanced the performance of the choreography (Modern Table, 2017). The different lighting in the scenes showed the change of events and probably the change of subthemes. The performance was voluminous. It was lengthy and expressed details from the different movements and the music that played in the background.

The choreography reminds one of the aspects of the Korean culture and what it entails. The choreography is an important medium to the information about the culture apart from the entertainment it brings one. The dance has incorporated the different elements of dance, like space, time, and force. The use of music in the choreography was also instrumental in relaying the message of the dance. The costumes blend well as the lighting used in the dance.

References

http://moderntable.co.kr/our-profilehttps://www.kennedy-center.org/video/millennium-stage/contemporary-dance/2016/modern-table---millennium-stage-october-22-2016/