October 12th, 2009 by soullldiva

I don’t know what it is about Korean dancers, but they just have it. Something super special, that is. About a year ago I found a lovely video of a girl named Min young-Park dancing and was just amazed at the talent, flexibility, dexterity, sensitivity, strength, beauty…and just plain emotional way she could dance. She had lots of breath in her dancing, which makes her seem effortless.

I wanted to see recently if I could find anything else like it, and went back to that video. It turns out that there is a yearly dance competition in Korea called the Dong-A Dance Festival (which Min young won in 2006). I couldn’t quite figure out any specific info on the festival, but found plenty of awesome videos and even more categories than just the contemporary dance that I first saw. The traditional dance category is pretty cool as well.

Here is Suntae Lee, from the 2008 festival. I can’t figure out if he won, but he’s sure goooooood. Again I am blown away by the precision and strength, yet also the personal, emotional nature of his dance. Mesmerizing. He looks like a bird ready to take flight at times…

One more ahhhh factor: the beautiful traditional Korean music. Sit back and relax.