Seoul Metropolitan Ballet, the country’s first public contemporary ballet company, will open its 2026 season next month with a double bill that pairs two contrasting sensibilities: rapture and raw instinct.
From March 14 to 22 at the M Theater of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, the company -- now in its third year and second full season — will present “Bliss & Jakie,” bringing together Johan Inger’s “Bliss” and “Jakie” by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar.
“Bliss,” which had its Asian premiere with the company last year, unfolds to Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert. Inger’s choreography traces the music’s lyrical arcs and spontaneous freedoms, rendering visible the sense of lightness and unguarded pleasure that ripples through.
The Swedish choreographer said during a press conference in Seoul last year that he wanted “to create something very pure and simple — just present in the moment.”
“It also represents a time for me, something carefree. I wanted to capture that spirit of the time, in the costumes, in the playfulness and in the improvisation.”
If “Bliss” dwells in radiance, “Jakie” turns toward something darker and more visceral.
Co-created by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar and premiered in 2023 by Netherlands Dance Theater, the work foregrounds the dancers’ tightly calibrated unison and a current of sensual force.
Set to throbbing electronic music, it drives instinctual longing to a fever pitch. In skin-tight costumes, the dancers move to near-ritualistic techno rhythms under sculptural lighting. The upcoming run is the work’s Korean premiere.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
