I Am: Dahyun

I am 김다현, or Dahyun Kim, a movement artist from Seoul, South Korea, currently based in New York City. My artistry has evolved around my identity as a Korean woman. I invite the viewers to see the world through the lens created by my cultural, sexual, and religious identities. When witnessing an adult, we see their current form as the final figure of "Who they have become." Still, in our own experiences, we understand that we are constantly changing, learning, growing, and unlearning as human beings. I wish to show this process through my works both as a mover and creator- to share my humanity so that, in turn, the audience can open their hearts a little more than before. I am forever evolving, discovering, and rediscovering myself & where I stand in this world.

I started dancing at 21, much later than most dancers began training. This late start, in turn, gave me a stronger drive to take in all the experiences that I received. This passion also allowed me to branch out extensively, learn as many different styles and views on dance as possible, and understand what "my" dance is. I have been trained in various styles, including contemporary, ballet, jazz, modern, improvisation, contact improvisation, house, traditional West African dance forms, street jazz, and waacking. I recently received my Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance at Tisch School of the Arts and Master of Arts degree in Dance Education at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development NYU. I currently dance with Gotham Dance Theater, regularly presenting my works in performances such as Queensboro Dance Festival and The Craft. Each of these feats is proof of my unending affection to share dance with this world and my wish to be living proof that everyone is meant to dance.

My recent series of work has been dedicated to sharing more about the intricate beauties of Korean music, writings, and ethos, which, from the outside, are hard to appreciate. One of which is "흥 | Joy," which premiered in Tisch Dance Works 1.0 2021 Season (then titled "북청") and I performed in 333 (2021), a performance funded by City Artist Corps Grants and curated by Hsiang Yu, as well as Queensboro Dance Festival 2022 Season. This energetic and joyous piece was created during the pandemic when Asian hate crimes covered the news and discussed exotification or discrimination against Asian people dominating social media feeds. This piece started my maturation as a choreographer, realizing my take on current events through my dance. Living in New York as a Korean person, I realized how people subliminally disguise exotification and stereotyping as respecting the culture. Even in dance history classes, I have only seen videos of "calm and zen" dances done in court would be shared when it was Korea's turn to be discussed in the World Dance section, and none of the vigorous and exhilarating dances and theater would be acknowledged.

Korean people are full of musicality, dance, and joy, even through the painful history that Korea has walked through. We have the gift of changing sorrow (한) into joy (흥); the joyous act is transcendence to let the pain go. Korea is not zen at all. Korean people go crazy. We inherently sing and dance because that is in our bloodline. The music of this piece is "북청" (The Lion Dance) by 악동광칠 (ADG7), a group of artists that are recreating traditional Korean music into contemporary aesthetics. The name of the theme and the idea of this dance comes from 북청사자놀음, which is a classic game played in the Korean 북청 region every first full moon of the year. This dance was created with a sense of play- and almost a desire for playfulness that is hard to reach as adults in this contemporary world. There was less focus on technique and precision and more focus on the spirit itself- letting the music carry the energy to the max and an almost rageful sense of exhilaration and joyousness taking over.

My following works have been more focused on processing sorrow (한) by using particular parts of Korean culture or art that I wished to highlight. One of which is "수심가 | Depth of Water," which premiered in Tisch Masters Concert 2023, and I performed in WADE Vision Benefit 2023. This piece was my attempt to reclaim my name, 김다현, which means "A Royal Tea," I have experienced many different layers of discrimination for my name. It becomes a tool for subliminal levels of disrespect and subconscious avoidance on a social and professional level. This piece reflected my realization of this phenomenon and how it has caused me to experience many unjust situations and normalize them. This piece is my reclamation of respect for myself, and I took time to process what I wanted to create and show through this piece. It was unlike any other process that I would make in one setting. In the show's first minute, I perform a supposedly peaceful and calm tea ceremony, which ironically, in turn, makes the audience uncomfortable as they must shush not to make any noise- this was my way of saying, "I am here. See who I am."

I also created "蓮花 | 연꽃," which premiered in the Tisch Dance & Technology Concert 2022 in collaboration with Chiemi Ip, "What is Left Behind" in collaboration with composer Nathan Whetshell, and 일엽편주 Paper Boat premiered in Queensboro Dance Festival 2023 Season. In each piece, I took inspiration from Korean writers and poets such as 최은영 (Eunyoung Choi) and 정호승 (Hoseung Jeong), or 사자성어 (Traditional sayings comprised of 4 words, which tend to hold wisdom shared by the people.) I continue to grow as a Korean artist and dive deeper with each creation to understand my Korean culture. It is my passion to share about Korean culture, more than the simple shell that people often see in K-pop or K-dramas. As a human being, I also have other ventures - diving into social justice issues such as stigma against mental health issues, radical improvisational scores with musicians, and audience interactive performances. In each endeavor, I overcame the fear of failure because dance never came easy, and I achieved each success by overcoming self-doubt. I live by the quote from Higgs Dance Space, created by Taesung Choi, "Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we should dance."

Photo © John Casem