▲ A press conference is held to celebrate "One Dance" winning the New York Dance and Performance Awards, or The Bessies, in Seoul on Jan. 28, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ Dancers perform during a press call for Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre's "One Dance" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Aug. 21, 2025. (Yonhap)
▲ Dancers perform during a press call for "One Dance" by the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Aug. 21, 2025. (Yonhap)

Korean dance-US award

Director, dancers, sponsor key to Korea's first Bessie: creators

By Woo Jae-yeon

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- The creators of "One Dance," which made history earlier this month as the first Korean team to win the New York Dance and Performance Awards, attributed their success to the concerted efforts of the director, choreographers and sponsor.

At a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, choreographer Jeong Hye-jin attributed the success to director Jung Ku-ho's "exceptional use of color and mise-en-scene," a core factor she said helped draw in audiences, and to the "tremendously dedicated work of dancers."

She expressed gratitude to the dancers who "endured great difficulty" in synchronizing their movements for a work "where the lines and rows must be perfectly aligned."

On Jan. 20, three choreographers -- Jeong, Kim Sung-hoon and Kim Jae-duk -- received Outstanding Choreographer/Creator from the prestigious award, more widely known as The Bessies, for Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre's "One Dance," or ilmu in Korean.

The awards organizer described the Korean dance work as "a visually mesmerizing, contemporary reinterpretation of ceremonial Korean traditional dance demonstrating a perfect balance between stillness and movement, and culminating in an explosive, athletic, contemporary dance."

Premiered in the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in May 2022, the work is a modern interpretation of ceremonial dance from traditional Korean court music, Jongmyo Jereak, designated as UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The work is "recreated under the overall direction of Jung Ku-ho, a creative director in fashion and the arts" with his vision of "modernizing traditional Korean aesthetics" being "felt in every beat of the show's visually stimulating set pieces," according to the theater.

Sponsored by SK Group, the dance was performed in three sold-out shows at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, New York, in July 2023.

"Taking a show like this overseas requires significant funding. Without a corporate sponsor, it would have been impossible," Jung said. "I am thrilled to have won Korea's first Bessie Award with a traditional Korean dance."

He also pointed to the dance's combination of "dynamic elements with stillness" and "the modern reproduction of tradition, both choreographically and artistically."

Established in 1984, the Bessies are among the most prominent honors in the U.S. for outstanding contemporary dance and performance.

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