Fusing modern and traditional Asian dance styles with hologram appearances and colourful projections, Eun-Me Ahn’s Dragons received huge critical acclaim when it showed in London and Salford in 2023. What’s On recently caught up with the avant-garde South Korean choreographer to find out more about the show ahead of its visit to Birmingham next month...

South Korean culture is currently riding a huge wave of popularity, with both K-pop and Korean film crossing boundaries and being embraced by people worldwide.

Now, iconic choreographer Eun-Me Ahn is hoping a tour of her Korean contemporary dance work Dragons will enjoy similar success with audiences across the UK.

Eun-Me, 61, has been a dance trailblazer at home and abroad for decades. Her company, which she founded in 1988, is one of South Korea’s leading contemporary troupes, playing theatres and festivals around the world (they also performed at the FIFA World Cup in South Korea in 2002).

Recently working with Gucci - posing for an exhibition exploring the contributions of legendary Korean artists - Eun-Me brought Dragons to the UK in 2023, the show proving to be a huge hit with audiences in London and Salford. The production’s new tour, taking in eight venues, will stop off at Birmingham Hippodrome next month. 

Eun-Me believes the world has finally woken up to the powerhouse which is South Korean culture.

“The Korean people have a special kind of talent,” she says. “We combine historical background with personal vision. We’ve had to struggle to survive. Since the Korean War ended, we have tried very hard to develop our country and prove ourselves.

“Culture can be more powerful than armies, and the Korean people want to share their culture with other people. 

“Education was very important. People studied dance and music and history. At the same time, we accepted modernity and new ideas of politics and economics. And we did that in a very positive way, importing ideas from the West - from Europe and America - but also keeping our own culture and traditions. It was very natural for us to mix them together.”

This blend of past and present is beautifully captured in Dragons.

“The dragon is a very symbolic creature. Everybody knows it, and we have many, many stories about dragons. But the dragon in Asia has many sides. Sometimes it is very good. Sometimes the dragon has humour. Sometimes it is a brave hero. And sometimes it becomes very bad.” 

In the show, the traditional heritage of these mythical beasts is combined with cutting-edge technology to create a stunning kaleidoscope of past and present. Dragons features a cast of seven live-on-stage dancers  interfacing with six guest performers, who appear as holograms. These six young dancers come from Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea, with five of them born around the year 2000 - a Year of the Dragon.  

The idea of combining holograms and stage performance was first sparked by having to use technology to communicate during Covid-19 lockdowns.

“I needed to develop a way that people could communicate with each other, and the only solution was online technology. And so Dragons is a piece about the condition of the world, the young generation who are in the world, and how they had to fight.

“It was the first time for them. Young people had never had this kind of world disaster in their life. It didn’t matter which country; it happened to all of us suddenly.”
Eun-Me and her team spent months directing and filming the six dancers. The development of the piece was painstaking.

“This process took a long time because we had to do it one-by-one. We had to teach them the movement using cell phones, and sometimes we couldn’t even see their whole bodies. But we never gave up. And when we made the final show, I saw it in the theatre and just shouted ‘Wow!’ It was unbelievable; we had made a beautiful moment.”

Eun-Me chose non-professional dancers as the guest performers, as she believes they bring a magic of their own.

“I’m trying to introduce the culture and traditional dance of each of their countries. And then the young people’s energy - how beautiful they are - that was a very important development. 

“They bring their originality to our dance, which can’t be learned. The body is a pure land, and when they dance and do something, it tells us a lot. I said to them ‘Whatever you say, say something,’ and they really did say something! It’s not through professional eyes, but they are smart and beautiful, and they tell us more sometimes as they are.” 

An exceptionally charismatic performer, Eun-Me takes to the stage as one of the dancers in Dragons. She’s also designed the show’s spectacular costumes and overseen the creation of its dazzling sets.

The Dragons tour is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 21 large-scale venues across the UK & Ireland which aims to bring top-quality contemporary dance from across the world to local audiences. Eun-Me is looking forward to sharing her production with those audiences.

“I care about the whole world; how we can use dance to communicate with all people. It is a very beautiful weapon to use. I love travelling, to go abroad and meet new people - especially the kids. They love my piece because I put sunlight and salt and pepper in it for them!

“It’s good to be touring to new cities in the UK because it’s a way for us to bring our stories to those audiences. Historically, the UK has a strong arts & culture scene, but our Korean approach is different. So, two countries meet together and can learn more about each other.

“This show will give audiences lots of new ideas. Visually, it’s sparkling and shiny. Dragons is a dance of miracles.”

Eun-Me Ahn Dance Company’s Dragons shows at Birmingham Hippodrome on Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 March

by Diane Parkes