DREAM RITUAL

Bongsu Park + Jinyeob Cha

03–06 Jul 2019

A dance journey through sleep and into the subconscious inspired by the Korean tradition of buying and selling dreams

Acclaimed London-based Korean artist Bongsu Park has joined forces with choreographer and dancer Jinyeob Cha to create Dream Ritual, a dark ethereal dance performance inspired by the Korean tradition of buying and selling dreams. Together, Park and Cha take the audience on a journey through the stages of sleep and the subconscious.

Dream Ritualis rooted in the tales of dream transactions first encountered in the Samguk Sagi, the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. Cha’s character Munhui buys a dream and becomes a shaman who travels to the collective unconscious where she encounters the dreams of others.

Quotes from real life dreams – donated via the project’s website: www.dreamauction.org – are projected on to sweeping folds of organza which represent the arcs and ripples of a typical sleep brainwave. Jinyeob Cha travels along and between the curved line of fabric, her ritualistic choreography swirling and earthbound. haihm’s ambient soundtrack includes field recordings of aboriginal dream ceremonies.

In the Print Room studio running alongside the performance of Dream Rituals is an exhibition of a selection of Bongsu Park’s video works, part of her ongoing exploration of dreams, mythologies and the cycle of life.

* Reviews:

‘Elegant, inventive, and thought-provoking work.'

Total Theatre

‘Explores the hazy chasm between waking and sleeping’

Dance Art Journal

'An inventive and inspiring journey into the unconscious'

Theatre Bubble

‘A delicate, mesmerising and fascinating multi-sensory journey through sleep and dreams’

Lucy Writers Platform

‘It’s a delicate work, ephemeral but leaving a lingering spell.’

Seeing Dance

‘A thought-provoking and visually striking production on the subconscious.’