2023 / Marie’s Dance / Immersive Audio Theater / 60 min / Adapter & Director
Synopsis
Marie, a young woman with a rare form of visual impairment, visits Sora, a dance teacher, because she wants to learn how to dance.
Sora begins teaching Marie choreography for an upcoming performance, but Marie does not rely on sight. Instead, she senses, feels, and moves according to her own internal perceptions.
Sora begins teaching Marie choreography for an upcoming performance, but Marie does not rely on sight. Instead, she senses, feels, and moves according to her own internal perceptions.
One day, Marie tells Sora about a world that can only be seen by people with her specific visual condition, and she claims that the day she will fully enter that world is approaching. Sora is faced with a choice: should she stop Marie, or should she try to understand that unseen world herself?
Director’s Note
This work asks a fundamental question: What do we define as “disability”?
Based on a short story by acclaimed Korean science fiction writer Kim Choyeop, Marie’s Dance was adapted into an immersive audio performance.
Based on a short story by acclaimed Korean science fiction writer Kim Choyeop, Marie’s Dance was adapted into an immersive audio performance.
I wanted to create a piece in which the actors would not physically appear on stage. Instead, the audience becomes “Sora,” experiencing the world entirely from Marie’s perspective. For this reason, the production was staged in a gallery rather than a traditional theater.
To visualize Marie’s distorted visual perception, we used warped, non-figurative images and mirror films, causing recorded videos of Marie’s dance to appear fragmented and misshapen. Audience members interacted with the piece through their mobile phones, experiencing the performance as if they were on a phone call with Marie.
Through this immersive structure, the production re-examines how the act of “seeing” is constructed, perceived, and distorted—and how our assumptions about perception shape the boundaries we impose on others and ourselves.
