▲ Dancers perform during a press call for the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre’s production “Ilmu” at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, Seoul, on Aug. 21, 2025. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- Choreographers of the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre’s production “Ilmu” have won the top choreography prize at the New York Dance & Performance Awards, widely regarded as the Oscars of the dance world.

 

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts said Wednesday that choreographers Jung Hye-jin, Kim Sung-hoon and Kim Jae-duk of “Ilmu” won the award for Outstanding Choreographer/Creator at the Bessie Awards held Monday (local time) in New York. It marks the first time a work by a South Korean national or public arts company has received the honor.

 

“‘Ilmu’ contains the spirit of people who endured together with one heart toward a single goal,” Jung said. “I believe this award reflects the trust built through perseverance and the time and effort so many people shared.”

 

Premiered in 2022, “Ilmu” is a contemporary reinterpretation of the ritual dance of “Jongmyo Jeryeak,” Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 1 and a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. When staged at New York’s Lincoln Center in 2023, the production sold out all performances and earned rave reviews from local media.

 

The Bessie Awards jury described the work as “a visually captivating reinterpretation of traditional Korean ritual dance through a contemporary lens,” adding that it “achieves a perfect balance between stillness and movement before reaching a climax with explosive, dynamic choreography.”

 

Established 41 years ago, the Bessie Awards honor the most innovative performances staged in New York, as selected by a jury of artists, producers and critics. The awards are named after renowned American choreographer Bessie Schonberg (1906-1997).

 

This year’s nominees for Outstanding Choreographer included 12 works, featuring internationally acclaimed Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter and rising American choreographer Kyle Marshall. Four choreographers — including those behind “Ilmu,” as well as Nia Love, Shamel Pitts and Wanjiru Kamuyu — were selected as winners.

 

Ahn Ho-sang, president of the Sejong Center, said the award “proves that the creative capabilities accumulated by the Sejong Center as a producing theater are valid even by global standards,” calling it a symbolic moment showing that its repertoire strategy has entered the center of contemporary global arts discourse.

 

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