Illustration by: Jungwon Ahn
“Tourist” - choreographed and directed by Hyoin Jun
Breathtaking, curious, emotional, and revolutionary. Hyoin Jun was phenomenal last Friday night. I found myself struggling to take notes because i didn't want to miss a single second of this electrifying performance. I was truly inspired after watching this work of art unfold. It was magical and i feel that Hyoin Jun cared about us his audiences as much as he did about his dancing. Moment after moment was something new and unexpected. I find these types of choreographed pieces to be the most exciting as you are truly sharing a personal and venerable moment with the dancer.
Hyoin Jun is truly an inspiration to me here at UCR. He is so talented and loves what he does and goes above and beyond to make sure the audience loves his work. So much love and compassion come from Hyoin, its truly amazing. The dance had a good amount of material choreographed as it was almost 20 minutes long. Mind you, Hyoin Jun is dancing solo for all 20 minutes. Solo’s are rough because theres only one body on stage compared to a mass group of 12. The energy levels are different but regardless of the numbers Hyoin didn't let anything slow him down. He was constantly moving from beginning to end. It was truly a never ending dance as i could of watched forever it was so fantastic.
Now to talk about a few moment within “Tourist” that really caught my attention. The dance starts out with the stage in black out. A light slowly fades in from the upstage left corner. Hyoin is slowly sliding himself into the beam of light. He then collapses and then crawls to the center of the stage slowly. The upstage right light slowly fades in and Hyoin began to crawl, which looked more like swimming, toward the light. He then keeps on his path till his head makes contact with the wall which then he will turn around and crawl back to the center. Another from downstage left slowly fades in and Hyoin begins to crawl to the light. As he did at the last corner he hit his head and starts making his way back to center as the full stage lighting is faded in.
This was absolutely marvelous to watch just based off my curiosity. In my opinion good dances makes us wonder why ? It also gives us something to think about while the piece is unfolding. When watching this opening of “Tourist” i wanted to know where this was going and whats next? Something i really appreciated from Hyoin was his patience when moving through this phrase. Moving slow is difficult as muscles are engaged for a longer period of time. Hyoin showed discipline making his crawling/ swimming from corner to corner continues but showing a sign of struggle truly making him a one of a kind artist. I came to the conclusion that Hyoin was stuck in a confined place. I came to the conclusion because of the saying “follow the light” and he would follow and be fooled when he came in contact with the wall. Something i also noticed in this part of the piece as well as others is that Hyoin in all his movements is persistent. When he hits one wall he back tracks and finds another light to continue to find what he is looking for.
The second part of this piece i idolized was a moment that was awe-inspiring. Ive always liked light and shadows as they can create many choreographic possibilities but this was remarkable. After crawling on the floor in the beginning and breaking out some standing phrase work Hyoin goes down to the floor once last time and then progresses through spirals and twist to eventually arrive to standing. He begins by lifting one leg off the ground and slowly starts moving forward in a slow tempo. As this is happening there is a dramatic light change as the downstage right and left lights fade in to replace the full stage of light. My jaw drops as this was a moment to take in for all it beauty it had to offer. With the lights focused on Hyoin, it casted clear and perfect shadows on the left and right. Hyoin took a simple idea and placed it perfectly within his dance to give a really powerful effect. It was not only the whole entire picture that gained my attention but the shape Hyoin's shadow was an exact copy of the picture posted above, specifically the boy holding the backpack. It didn't come to me until i physically saw it on a his shadow.
The picture specifically of the boy is sad or looks burdened by something. The weight of being a tourist in a place that doesn't want to help you but tries to change you instead ? When looking at the beginning and the shadows it seems as though there is a struggle that Hyoin is struggling with but it has yet to be revealed and i genuinely believe that Hyoin left it up to the audience to take what they want from it as it could apply to anyone in a new situation.
The final moment of this dance is mournful and beautiful at the same time. Hyoin ends the last section laying face down in center. He quickly gets up to standing and makes his way toward the stage left exit. Its abruptly shut on person to keep him locked in and contained. Hyoin first tries the left wall as he knocks and says “Hello” and “Aloha” but no one comes. He begins exploring around the stage as he is looking for an exit. The upstage curtain immediately peaks his interest as he paced across left to right. He attempts to walk through the curtain but is immediately stopped by a large what seems to be wall behind the curtain. This was a moment by Hyoin that gains all my respect as a dancer. After not being able to walk through, he decided to try to walk faster in order to get through. He failed. He keeps trying, and trying, and trying but nothing. He begins to throw his full body into the curtain. Hyoin's commitment made it see like if he didn't get out here would die there. He tries the right side after repeatedly throwing his at the curtain and still fails. He finally is out of energy and lays in defeat next to the curtains. He still finds the last bit of energy he has and gets up and walks away from the curtain to get the biggest running start he could get. With all his speed and force he was still stopped at the wall. Even when he has no energy left he still tries to get threw even while laying down on the floor.
Hyoin finally gets to his feet and screams with the sense of it coming from a place of anger or frustration. While yelling his top half would start vertical then fold forward as the scream went on. He screams again but this time sounding more despairing and heavyhearted than the last. He continues to scream but starts to move with heavy steps and stomps. Hyoin then changes his scream by hitting his chest making a syncopated “Ah” sound every time he would hit his chest. His steps transform into heavy shuffles as he travels to stage right then back to center. He continues the shuffles but starts making sounds from slapping his legs and body. He makes a few level changes with movement and then makes popping sounds by smacking his mouth with a flat palm. Hyoin’s shuffle ends and makes his way back to center while still making the popping noise. He does a few reaches in center and then comes back to a neutral standing position, now increasing to both hands making the popping sound and speeding up the tempo. He begins to start winding down and transitions into whistling first softly then increasing in volume. Hyoin looks as though he’s in search for something but this is different then what he was searching for in the earlier sections. Bird noises slowly fade in and Hyoin responds with a variety of tones and calls back to the birds. Music slowly fades in along with the bird noises and the back curtain is opened to expose an astonishing and beautiful view of nature. Hyoin makes his way from downstage to upstage towards the video, whistling and finally at peace, as this is what he has been looking for this whole time. As he reaches the screen he slips through the middle of the projector screen and appeared instantaneously in the video that literally left the entire audience speechless. He continues to explore in this video all the highs and lows to continue to push forward past all obstacles and become what you want and achieve your dreams. Hyoin makes his way off screen and lights fade to black.
This last section was special to me. So much emotion, power, and energy thats what made it so good to watch. This last section of “Tourist” is quite remarkable. Time and time again Hyoin failed but throughout all of his he still kept fighting. I connect with this on a personal level. The word perseverance is a word i live by everyday. Hyoin showed perseverance all through the dance by forcing himself to keep trying and keep moving forward even at your lowest points. I love dance and i love what it does for people. The fire has been reignited in me to stay focused and work hard in order to someday reach the level of skill, emotion. and energy that Hyoin shared with us on stage. I always strive to be better than i was yesterday and watching Hyoin just showed me I have so much work to do and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store.
