Two of a kindness
American troupe the Trey McIntyre Project is bridging cultural divides and has found there's more to Korean dance than riding and lassoing, writes Jeff Chu
It is a cool Sunday afternoon in October, and Lee So-jin, Kim Tae-hee and Chang An-lee have landed in Boise, Idaho, in the United States. None of the three, all members of the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC), has ever heard of the place, let alone visited.
A city of just over 200,000 people, plenty of trees and not many big buildings, Boise epitomises pleasantness - hence its ubiquity on the "best places to live" lists that American magazines so like to compile. It is famous for little beyond the Broncos, the university football team. Yet over the past five years, it has become known as the home of the Trey McIntyre Project (TMP), one of America's leading contemporary-dance troupes, and the Korean dancers' host.
Trey McIntyre, the daring American choreographer who leads his eponymous troupe, greets the three women at their airport gate. As they walk towards the baggage-claim area and begin to descend the escalators, they hear the curious rumble of some familiar music.
"Hey, sexy lady …" Lee begins to giggle, covering her mouth with a sheaf of papers; !
As the lower level comes into view, they see 11 TMP dancers all riding and lassoing in sync. The three women drop their bags and join in, and then, as the song comes to an end, the trio find themselves wrapped in the most American of welcomes: hugs.
chose Psy's megahit to welcome their Korean counterparts says something about the inroads that the current cultural wave known as is making, even in the US. And it says even more about the spirit of collaboration underlying the Koreans' visit to Boise.
