Kim Sung-hoon and Kim Jaeduk Named Outstanding Choreographer/Creator for One Dance at the Bessie Awards

Choreographers Kim Sung-hoon and Kim Jaeduk, both alumni of the School of Dance, have been honored as Outstanding Choreographer/Creator at the Bessie Awards (NY Dance & Performance Awards), one of the most prestigious dance recognitions in the United States.

Regarding their work One Dance (Ilmu), the jury praised it as “a visually mesmerizing, contemporary reinterpretation of ceremonial Korean traditional dance, demonstrating a perfect balance between stillness and movement and culminating in an explosive, athletic, contemporary dance.”

One Dance (Ilmu), premiered in 2022 by the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theater, reimagines the ritual choreography of Jongmyo Jeryeak (Royal Ancestral Ritual Music at the Jongmyo Shrine)—designated as Korea’s first Intangible Cultural Heritage and listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—through a contemporary choreographic lens.

The work’s artistic cohesion, uniting the traditional grace of Korean dance led by Jeong Hyejin, former director of the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theater, the modern sensibility of Kim Sung-hoon and Kim Jaeduk, and the minimalist stage design of Jung Kuho, received wide acclaim. When the production was presented at Lincoln Center in 2023, all performances were sold out. The New York Times reviewed the piece as a dialectical harmony and explosion of tradition and modernity.