9 questions for HeJin Jang

Dancer/Choreographer HeJin Jang is the first person to respond to 9 questions. Here's what she had to say.

1. How would you describe the piece you are currently working on?

   I am currently interested in use of silence and its politics. Paged/staged/wakeful/watchful/improvised/calculated silence…….Silence that is the other side of sound and image…..

2. What inspired you to create this piece?

   When my silence got read by others, their voice came unstitched over mine. I was very upset. And the only thing I could do about it was dancing. I have tried to back up those words through my body.

3. Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work? Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work? How?

   I will say this work was inspired by what the previous piece made me forget and remember.

4. What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen over time? Why do you think those shifts occurred?

   Creating works became more like carving. I start with various materials and ideas and then start to carve it out. In other words, “empty” it out. It is not just a editing. Even if I cut some out, it is all imprinted in my body. I try to share those invisible left-overs with audience.

5. Why do you choose to express yourself with dance?

   It is because “Embodiment” is louder than my words. I get to forget and re-member through dance.

6. What about today's environment feeds your work? What are your favorite things about dancing now? What do you find the most challenging?

   I like talking about works over coffee. Or, I like have dances to talk to each other. I appreciate draft works and its informal showing with discussion in today’s dance scene. I also like writing about my work and its process. What I am interested in is “performative writing,” and it helps me to go deeper in dance. Both talking and writing about works could be most challenging as well.

7. What is your happiest dance memory?

   I don’t know whether I am “happy” dancing or making dance. I always go though hard times emotionally when make works. But, I do know there is a reason for that place. I guess just believing in dance makes me happy.

8. What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography?

   Moving and Thinking are not two distinct things. As we move, we think. As we think, we move. I guess I am trying to think in depth in every day life to support my work. It is to enable “bodily thinking”

9. If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?

   “What do you think is the reason for you that you just have to keep on keeping on with dance in spite of?”

Check out HeJin's work this Monday May 11th at Judson Church and see more photos of her work in rehearsal here