Korean choreographer’s work called #Chinesedance by Hong Kong troupe – and misnamed in Chinese, some claim – as ‘kimchi wars’ extend to the stage
- Hong Kong Dance Company commissioned a work from Seoul-based Han Hyo-lim but did not call it Korean in programme notes and promoted it as Chinese dance
- South Koreans in Hong Kong soon noticed. Two days after Han demanded the notes be changed, they were, but the troupe defends using #Chinesedance
The Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) has discovered to its cost that the “kimchi wars” can extend to dance, as it defends its latest programme against South Korean claims of Chinese cultural imperialism.
On Wednesday, one of the choreographers behind the company’s “Myth of the Dancing Durumi” programme, which runs until September 18, demanded that the troupe remove the Chinese term chaoxian from the description of her work The Moon, a new commission rooted in Korean traditional dance, Korean shamanism and folklore.
Korean choreographer Han Hyo-lim, based in Seoul, told the Post she was surprised that the programme notes claimed her work embodies “Chaoxian sentiments”, which to her is a specific reference to ethnic Korean culture in China and not a description that applies to her work.
Descriptions of the troupe’s outreach programmes also use chaoxian dance and #ChineseDance to introduce the performance, using the term to describe traditional cultures from Korea as well as the Korean diaspora in China and Russia.
