Korean dancers dazzling

KIM MAL AE, UTAH BALLET, PERFORMING DANCE COMPANY, Kingsbury Hall, Thursday

In one dance, women wearing traditional Korean gowns flipped their fans audibly as they glided through their formations on the stage of Kingsbury Hall. Another dance was a classic European-style ballet, yet the visitors from Seoul imprinted it with their own brand of grace. (Their heads often seemed to strain upwards and their hands fairly floated and the angle of their arms was such that their wrist bones were visible from the 12th row.)

Then there were the modern dances the Korean students did. And the two ballets performed by the University of Utah students.

In short, there was a dazzling variety of styles in Thursday night's performance of Kim Mal Ae Dance Company (featuring the Utah Ballet and Performing Dance Company). The Kim Mal Ae company includes students from the three disciplines taught at Kyung Hee University — traditional Korean dance, modern dance and ballet.

Yet within each style there was also great variety. One traditional dance, "Impressions of Korea," featured a shrill combination of flutes and strings, set in contrast to flowing movement and soft clouds of costumes. This would have been my favorite traditional dance — except that the drum dance in the second half was equally intriguing. (Large red drums were played, with two different kinds of sticks, by twirling dancers.)

It was also impossible to pick the best modern dance.

"Yearning," choreographed and danced by Geum-hwa Kim, was athletic. It began with her arm emerging from a mound of fabric. Gradually her entire upper body struggled forth until she finally stepped free ... then she died.

"Uninvited People in Amy" seemed to tell a story. Women in traditional headdress walked in traditional ways. A man dumped a boy's body. The women's lives changed. They scrubbed. They threw their hats. The boy, Hee-jung Kim, danced wildly and well. One by one, the people walked away.

As for the ballet numbers, they were fine — but not mysterious and new.

Incidentally, Jennifer Castenada is to be commended for filling in for a Korean dancer who spent one day of her trip to Utah in an emergency room with the flu. If fund-raising works out, University of Utah students will round out the exchange program with a trip to Kyung Hee University in May.

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E-mail: susan@desnews.com