Review: Boram Kim: Gwantong 18, Coronet Theatre

Dance like no one is watching. That’s the advice we’re given, right? It’s become a trite self-improvement mantra about finding joy and connecting with the human experience. I have never been entirely convinced. Fortunately, Korean choreographer and dancer Boram Kim proves the theory is largely nonsense in what is billed as his final solo performance. He has clearly decided to dance like an audience is watching. Literally. He gloriously, wordlessly shares his view of the world and his role in it as a dancer with an irresistible, knowing, meta sense of performance. This is communication, direct, raw, unconstrained, and ultimately, rather beautiful. The movement is divine, often thrilling and occasionally funny. Sorry, clowns, but Kim’s contemporary dance discipline makes you all look like amateurs. He pricks pomposity, parodies other dance forms, and, frankly, just tells jokes with his body so well you should all retire. It’s all so free of artifice and damned human; you could weep.

Talking of weeping, ageing and physical decline recur, which is understandable, since Kim is apparently preparing to say goodbye to this extraordinarily demanding work. He struggles with a dodgy knee, wheezes, and at one point can’t reach his socks. This is all pretence, of course. He is physical perfection. I Googled his age, and it made me sick. I guess he and I just made different life choices. Ho hum. Gwantong roughly means, according to another quick Google search, to ‘push through.’ 18 refers to the show’s 18 sections. Honestly, Kim has, in a very real sense, overcommitted. As we watch his sweating, heaving torso push through, we’d have probably settled for 10 or 12. You couldn’t quite call each section an individual dance as they merge into a continuous, loose shape, but props wittily reveal the numbers to keep us on track. I confess to getting lost every now and again. No matter, because there’s nothing resembling a narrative to follow. What Kim gives us is impressive variety and virtuosity. Where he goes, you don’t need a story.

I’ve mentioned humour, but the performance also explores existential angst, our contemporary malaise, and some uncomfortable truths.  At one point, Kim’s muscular arms struggle to pull his T-shirt over his head. It’s a ridiculously small gesture, but it’s probably the best representation of 21st-century toxic masculine frustrations you’ll see on a London stage this year. He shows us the futility of most of our working days, the value of art, the sacrifice creativity demands, the compromises we’re forced to accept, and the sheer hard work it takes to accept ourselves. It’s all so immediate and visceral, and simple. It’s just dance.

It’s not simple, of course. Or just dance. Kim is an artist at the top of his game, producing work that’s a privilege to have in London. The wonderful Coronet Theatre continues to program the best in international dance and performance. And you should definitely catch this example while you can.

Choreographer & Performer: Boram Kim
Assistant Choreographer,, Sound Operator & Guest Performer: KyeongMin Jang
Lighting Design: DaeDoo Bae
Stage Manager: JaeMin Park
Tour Producer: HeeJin Lee
Produced by Ambiguous Dance Company
In Association with: Producer Group DOT
With the support of KOFICE (Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange)

Boram Kim: Gwantong 18 runs at The Coronet until Saturday 24 October