2021 OPEN STAGE
“Goodbye 460 Park, Building the Future Together”

Presented by the Korean Cultural Center New York

Friday, March 26, 2021, 12 pm
KCCNY YouTube Channel

The first performance we present is WERO by SaaWee.

SaaWee would like to artistically recognize what is happening in current society worldwide. Through the unique ritual of WERO, SaaWee wishes to connect widely with people who are in pain through the experience of COVID-19.

There is a deep sense of loss: Loss of time, loss of job, loss of loved ones.
These are all deeply affecting the society as whole as well as each individual uniquely.
SaaWee performs a healing ritual that caresses the pain and transforms it into healing.

PROGRAM

SaaWee invites 5 different gods to open the spiritual space for people.

SaaWee recognizes the cycle of life and death and attempts to borrow the wisdom of nature in order to face the pain caused by loss. Mortal life has physical limits and pain comes from the limitation of the body. Suffering is manifested when resistance to pain is activated. Acceptance of the pain releases the bondage and unlocks a healing energy. Pain is also manifested when we do not harmonize with nature. Our history of warping and attacking nature in turn attacks us back through diseases and natural disasters.

Only when we tap into our innate nature to create, connect, and harmonize, is transformation possible. In order to overcome this loss, we dance, and we sing. A new ritual is in place to redirect lives into hopeful ways.

1. Festival of Five Gods
We ask for the cleansing of our surroundings and blessings on all participants.
When all is purified, the temple is ready for the festivity.

2. New Breath for Mother Nature
We sing the song we are given, breathing into Mother Nature in hopes to resuscitate.

3. Moondoong
The narrative unveils the illness of society that eats away at our souls and our bodies.

4. Into the Rain
Our souls are in drought and long to be drenched in blessings, thirsting for renewal.
When our prayers are answered with each raindrop, our yearning transforms into dance.
We are cleansed, we become the rain.

5. New Ritual
What we are wearing, we don’t need.
What we are hiding, we want to reveal.
We long to be who we are meant to be.
The way we came into this world is our renewal.

SaaWee

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Sita Borahm Chay (Director | Violinist | Composer)
Jihye Kim (Percussionist | Composer)

SaaWee was formed in 2018 to manifest spiritual aspects of Korean traditional music through contemporary music and art language in hopes to connect with a global wide audience. Since 2018, SaaWee has performed throughout the world including New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bogota, and Seoul. Each performance is intended to be a unique production symbolizing the ungraspable quality of each moment. SaaWee often creates openness of ritual by inviting a new collaborator in each city and together they create a story that recognizes uniqueness of now. SaaWee also incorporates unique aspects influenced by the space and audience. The most notable example is when SaaWee performed in the WWII bunker of Berlin where the performers moved from one room to another interacting with the meaning of the historical part of the space and the audience who followed the movements of the performers.

SaaWee often performs in circular form and includes not only musical aspects but also theatrical, visual, and movement aspects to create 3 dimensional experiences.

ABOUT KCCNY’s OPEN STAGE

First introduced in 2012, Open Stage has been playing a crucial role in presenting opportunities for rising performers not only based in New York but also directly coming from Korea to display their talents to a wide New York audience. Now in its 7th season, Open Stage is continuously expanding its existing platform, presenting various genres of works including Korean traditional music and dance, modernized Korean creative world music, jazz, as well as contemporary dance and theater. This year, through a highly-competitive process, six groups have been chosen to put on yet again another uniquely wonderful showcase, online.

To check out the lineup of <2021 Open Stage: “Goodbye 460 Park, Building the Future Together”>, please click here.