World premiere!
"stunning … an extraordinary lexicon of vocal colors, tones and textures." —The Chicago Tribune
How can life be changed? Or healed? San Francisco-based innovator Dohee Lee explores these metaphysical questions in an evocative new work integrating traditional Korean performance with contemporary music, movement and film. Born in Korea and now immersed in the Bay Area’s experimental art world, Lee is trained in shamanic ritual music and dance and Korean percussion. Inspired by the ancient Chinese text I-Ching, or Book of Changes, Lee maps out the book’s 64 symbolic hexagrams with a stunning integration of light design, imagery and movement. This YBCA commissioned work features the work of filmmaker and virtuoso bassist Tatsu Aoki; saxophonist Francis Wong; Jonathan Chen on violin and electronics; Jason Lewis, multiple percussion; dancer/choreographer Sherwood Chen; and visual artist Thomas Wong.
Dohee Lee
Flux refers to the natural flow of history, nature and life. However this flow is disrupted through war, imperialism, and national oppression, which erases our histories and severs our ties to our ancestors. As a Korean immigrant, I am seeing what happened to my Korean War relations now happening to my neighbors throughout the world. I am also seeing how it happens within the U.S. to “third world” communities of color.
In the I-Ching, the idea of flux speaks to how we have to make choices and take action in an ever-changing world. This ancient text has been influential in China for three thousand years and is our map/our path. It is a structurally dazzling work that illuminates the order in History, Nature and Life’s apparent chaos. Drawing upon this, FLUX is an evocative piece integrating traditional Korean performance with experimental music, movement and film. Through FLUX, we show how important it is to constantly connect with our past, to resist war and oppression and to restore a “natural order” for our collective future.
—D. L.
Dohee Lee is an artistic director, composer, and performer who explores her training in shamanistic ritual music, dance, and Korean percussion in order to create unique interdisciplinary work. Recent performances include Kunst-stoff’s 10th Anniversary Season with un state, as a composer and performer, and as a performer and costume designer in c(H)ord by Shinichi Iova-Koga and inkBoat, both world premieres at YBCA in 2008. In 2007, she was commissioned to compose SINAWI for Kronos Quartet, performing in the work with Kronos at the 2007 San Francisco Jazz Festival.