3/31/11: amazing: Laboratory Dance Project from South Korea tonight
thru Sat. night - the best of the season yet! Final piece was like a
combination of zikr, hip hop and pure power. If you can get a ticket
- go!

Who: Laboratory Dance Project (LDP), from Seoul, South Korea
Presented by: White Bird
When: Thursday, March 31, 2011 - Saturday, April 2, 2011, 8:00pm
Where: Lincoln Hall, Portland State University
Sponsor: Willamette Week, Columbia Sportswear Company
Tickets: $28; $18 Students/Seniors. Tickets available through
www.whitebird.org and PSU Box Office, 1825 Broadway, 503-725-3307

White Bird Uncaged presents the West Coast debut of South Korea�s
Laboratory Dance Project at Lincoln Hall, Portland State University
from March 31-April 2, 2011. Founded in 2001, LDP comprises some of
the most boldly creative young dancers and choreographers from the
Korea National University of the Arts in Seoul and has been making an
international name for contemporary Korean dance with its distinctive
blend of modern, hip hop, break dancing, martial arts, acrobatics and
contact improvisation. The Portland program will feature eight
gifted male dancers, performing three exhilarating works by three
award-winning choreographers, including the company�s signature
piece, No Comment, which has brought audiences to their feet around
the world whenever it has been performed.

The LDP program will begin with Are you happy to see me?, for six
dancers, choreographed by Mi Sook Jeon. This is a witty and
satirical work on social conventions that forcefully points to the
lack of communication pervading contemporary society. Jeon uses the
gesture of shaking hands to represent the choreographer�s wish to
break down barriers in human relationships, both on a personal level
as well as among political parties separated by ideological or
political doctrines.

Modern Feeling , by choreographer Insoo Lee, uses movement arising
from contact improvisation that suggests meetings, conflicts and
compromises between two men. Lee�s intensely physical movement
resonates with hip hop, break dancing, martial arts, and acrobatics,
performed by the two dancers with great strength and precision.
Modern Feeling won the Grand Prix award at the Seoul International
Choreographer Festival in 2008.

LDP�s program culminates with LDP�s signature work, the ferocious No
Comment, choreographed by Changho Shin in 2002. A testosterone-
fuelled group of eight suited male dancers prowl the stage with
physically charged, unpredictable movement that combines modern dance
with hip hop and martial arts. No Comment was inspired by the video-
only, no-commentary news format that characterized the Iraqi War
press coverage in Germany. This comment-less communication style led
the choreographer Shin to drop unnecessary interpretations or
symbolism from his dance. When the work premiered at London�s The
Place this past November, londondance.com called the work �hard-
hitting,� �packing a punch with its intensity, cleverly building
walls of movement.�