La Vague Coréenne

Princess Bari is a god called back at the traditional Gut ritual in Korea performed on the 49th day after a person has died. The name 'Bari' is thought to come from the term, 'to let go'.



The ancient folklore on Princess Bari is as follows:



A long time ago, a king asked a mudang about the marriage of his fifteen-year-old son.

The fortuneteller said that if the prince got married that year, he would have seven daughters and if not, he would be blessed with three sons. The king, disregarding the fortune, had the prince get married that year and soon after, the prince inherited the throne.

The queen of the new king gave birth to seven daughters, as predicted by the mudang. The furious king threw the last born into the sea. Fortunately, a fisherman rescued the princess and raised her as his own. She found out about her true identity when she turned sixteen. On her way back to the palace she was caught by bandits and underwent great hardships. Thanks to the help of a toad, she managed to escape just before she was to be turned into a strip girl to dance in front of old warlords. Then she met a man whom she was about to fall in love with when she received news that her father the king was seriously ill.

She said farewell to her lover and returned to the palace to ask the mudang to foresee the future. The fortuneteller said that her father could only be cured with sacred water that only the princess could secure. The princess visited the underworld and again went through great hardship to meet the Buddha. She then came back to the upper world to meet a holy man who gave her the sacred water. By the time she got back, both her parents had long since passed away, but she was able to revive them with her sacred water. Eventually, she got married with the holy man and gave birth to seven sons. She also became a mudang to save people's lives. And to this day, she is the protector of mudangs and revered at a shrine dedicated to her.



This piece is composed of two parts: Part 1 is about the upper world or the world of the living and Part 2 is about the netherworld or the world of the dead.

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The script is written by one of the renowned authors in Korea, Yong-gu Park. Focusing on the situation of the characters rather than repeating the hardships undergone by the protagonist maintains the tension of the piece. For over ninety minutes, five traditional Korean singers, eight dancers and five performers playing traditional Korean instruments combine to create a beautiful and sacred harmony and resonance of the discrepancies in human history.





Ahn Eun-Me Company



Choreographer and dancer, Eunme Ahn founded Ahn Eun-Me Company in February 1988. The company has been actively performing in the US and Europe. The New York Times has likened her work to that of Japanese Butho, while an English critic described her as being the "Pina Bausch of Asia". Her dance, characterized by a sensitive language of the body, mesmerizing colors, dynamic energy bereft of any unnecessary movements and turns, and a sense of humor, is an expression of her desire to go past the boundary of traditional dance and to communicate with the outside world.