Festival features Asian artists

The first Asian Contemporary Arts Festival at UW–Madison will offer audiences direct contact with contemporary artists from Korea, Indonesia and Cambodia throughout this semester.

The event will open Saturday, Feb. 8, with a performance by Kim MaeJa and the ChangMu Dance Company from Seoul.

Peggy Choy, principal organizer of the festival and lecturer in the Dance Program says, “Artistic director/choreographer MaeJa has developed her own technique that is rooted in the breath. Her choreography is characterized by powerful intensity while simultaneously projecting a sense of effortless flow.”

MaeJa and Choi Haeree, dance ethnologist at Ehwa University in Seoul, will lecture Monday, Feb. 10, on MaeJa’s technique and vision. The exploration of Korean culture will continue with “An Evening of Korean Dance and Music” on Saturday, March 8. Lee Jong-ho of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in Seoul, Choy and Park Chan-eung of Ohio State University will present a program of both traditional and contemporary pieces.

Park will discuss Pansori singing on Friday, March 7. A presentation on Korean shamans will take place on Friday, March 28. Speaking will be Mikyung Park of Taegu University in Kyungsan, Korea and the University of California-Berkeley.

The festival’s focus shifts next to Indonesia. Balinese playwright and actor Ikranegara will perform his solo work “The Temple of the Sacred Masks” on Friday, April 4. During the lunch hour, he will discuss “Indonesian Contemporary Theatre: Globalization From Below.” In addition, the UW–Madison’s Javanese Dance and Gamelan Ensemble will present their annual concert on Friday, April 25. The Javanese Gamelan Ensemble uses a collection of Southeast Asian instruments acquired by the School of Music. Student-participants are able to learn about the culture by performing its music and dance for audiences on- and off-campus.

“An Evening of Khmer Dance and Music” will conclude the festival on Thursday, June 19. Featuring the Madison- and Milwaukee-based Bayon Prapeyney Company, the performance will include dance-drama, music and dance.

For a complete festival schedule, watch the Wisconsin Week calendar, http://www.today.wisc.edu. All performances are free and open to the public, although tickets for some events are required from the Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office, 262-2201. For information about the festival, contact Choy at 263-1755, pachoy@wisc.edu.