By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The Morning Star Korean Cultural Center’s “Narae 2025: Bi Sang–Together We Soar” cultural program began with a short speech from Cheryl Lee, one of the best-known Korean Americans in the Seattle area. Stepping out onto the S. Mark Taper Foundation stage at Benaroya Hall on Nov. 30, she greeted the crowd in Korean and English, switching between languages as she would in several further stage appearances.
The show’s name combined the Korean “narae,” for “wings,” with “bi sang,” the concept of many parties rising and soaring together. The first act of the first half, “In the Beginning,” invoked the Bible with its title, but consisted of dancers in blue, plus drumming from one side of the stage, then the other, until everyone synchronized.
“Jindo Bukchum,” or “Jindo drum dance,” used females in bright costumes stemming from Korea’s Jindo Island. This featured more dancing, this time in twos, with a great deal of passionate drumming and the distinctive cross-handed percussion technique.
A harp sound and a lot of gliding marked “Flower Crown Dance,” a royal court dance showcasing traditional court attire. “Han Oh Baek Nyeon,” or “One Five-Hundred years,” a folk song sung by Jihyun Kim, used hand fans to accentuate its melody.
Drums took on the role of the rain during “Variation of Rain,” where a few raindrops became a few drumbeats, which became heavier, a downpour, then a torrent. A man in black appeared at the left of the stage, almost invisible; he lifted to his lips a taepyeongso, a Korean instrument combining the nasal sound of the oboe with the punch of a trumpet; and held sway over the storm.
A re-imagining of fan dance marked “Forest,” where the performers personified forest trees, waving thin, gauzy fans which resembled leaves, or flower petals. “Fusion Fantasy” concluded part one of the program—two songs from an ensemble combining Western keyboard and string instruments, with the Korean gayageum zither. The first selection combined Ennio Morricone’s “Bella Fantasia” and the Christian spiritual “How Great Thou Art.” The second one re-worked the traditional “Arirang.”
After intermission, Choral Arts Northwest joined with Korean singers, for two more songs. “Geon (The Sky Opens)” celebrated the coming of spring; “Saeya Seaya (Bird, Bird) reached back to the Donghak peasant movement, launched by Jeon Bongjoon in the late 19th century.
The lighter-hearted “Sae Taryeong” (Bird Song)” leaned on zither sounds, to summon birds on a spring night. Cheryl Lee then performed something not on the printed schedule: A “DMZ” poem, on the history and current state of the Demilitarized Zone, written by Jiyeon Cheh, co-founder of the Morning Star Center.
“HakChum,” a traditional Korean court and folk dance, gained some modern whimsy from female dancers sporting the “Gat,” a high black hat typically worn by men. It blended into “The Migration,” a modern reworking of the “HakChum,” emphasizing the movement of cranes, the female dancers in long-sleeved outfits to suggest wings.
“Samulnori” translates to “four things at play” and refers to the four elements—small gong, large gong, hourglass drum, and barrel drum—working together to portray the elements of nature. A video (its captions, unfortunately, obscured by the performers) played in the background, detailing the history of Korea American day, commemorating the arrival of the first Korean immigrants to the United States, in 1903.
A performing program typically involves a big finish, and “Celebration” proved all of that. From the template of a harvest celebration, all the drummers and all the dancers took the stage. The young cast members came out to spin discs, on sticks and fingers. The taepyeongso player re-appeared, playing something similar to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Three male dancers executed the previously-unseen “sanmo-nori” dance, waving long ribbons hitched to their headgear.
A final round of applause for the entire cast finished off a remarkable evening.
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