Minimal movement, maximum feel: Choreographer Sharon Eyal brings 'Jakie' to Seoul
Published: 10 Mar. 2026, 15:47
Updated: 10 Mar. 2026, 18:55
-
- LEE JIAN
- [email protected]
![From left, President Ann Ho-sang of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, choreographer and dancer Sharon Eyal and Seoul Metropolitan Ballet's dancers Nam Yoon-seung and Kim Yeo-jin pose for photos after the press conference for the ballet company's upcoming double-header "Bliss & Jakie" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/03/10/1bb0667a-b438-4abb-aeb7-98bef2c2032a.jpg)
From left, President Ann Ho-sang of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, choreographer and dancer Sharon Eyal and Seoul Metropolitan Ballet's dancers Nam Yoon-seung and Kim Yeo-jin pose for photos after the press conference for the ballet company's upcoming double-header "Bliss & Jakie" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [NEWS1]
Techno beats, visceral movement and dancers in nude bodysuits — Seoul Metropolitan Ballet’s upcoming performance of “Jakie” offers a glimpse into the hypnotic world of choreographer Sharon Eyal, one of the 21st century's defining voices in contemporary dance.
The piece will be presented as part of a double bill alongside Johan Inger’s “Bliss” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, central Seoul, from March 14 to 22.
“I don’t call myself a choreographer. I think I am a dreamer,” Eyal told reporters Tuesday at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. “I love creating and sharing through dance. I think I was born to do it, and the most important thing is simply to continue doing it.”
Born in Jerusalem and now based in France, Eyal was a ballerina at the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 1990 to 2008. She served as the company’s associate artistic director from 2003 to 2004 and as its house choreographer from 2005 to 2012. Eyal has also collaborated with the fashion house Dior on several campaigns, choreographing performances for the fashion house's Spring/Summer 2019, Cruise 2021 and Autumn/Winter 2021-2022 shows, and appearing as one of the faces of the Lady 95.22 campaign in 2023.
“Jakie,” co-created with her husband and longtime collaborator Gai Behar, premiered in 2023 with the Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague, Netherlands. Short and intense, it is marked by minimal and repetitive movements that invoke a sense of eroticism, accompanied by a techno-infused score, which gives a sense of freedom inside ballet's rigid forms.
The upcoming Sejong show marks the Korean premiere of "Jakie."
![Sharon Eyal speaks to reporters about "Jakie" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [SEJONG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/03/10/0e67ae19-90c9-44d5-b2f3-7ca1374590a3.jpg)
Sharon Eyal speaks to reporters about "Jakie" at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [SEJONG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS]
Small adjustments have been made to the choreography while working with the Seoul dancers, explains Eyal. “I work on an individual level with the dancers," she said. "I am thinking about what is right for these people and these dancers, not about the audience. And when you do that with honesty, I believe it will touch the audience.”
Eyal described the Seoul Metropolitan Ballet dancers as “strict with form.”
“I love it — I’m almost obsessed with it,” she said. “And I think I bring something emotionally new and challenging to it.”
Dancer Nam Yoon-seung, one of the core performers of the ballet company’s 2026 season, described Eyal’s choreography as “awakening the nerves that begin in the brain and translating those sensations into dance.”
“‘Jakie’ isn’t simply a sequence of choreography,” he said. “The key point of the piece is that these sensations feel continuously alive and moving. I hope audiences will focus on how it feels on a sensory level.”
Dancer Kim Yeo-jin, another core performer this season, said learning the movements and sequences at times felt like “solving a complicated math problem.”
“You can’t do it unless you awaken all of your senses,” she said. “If your mind and body are not fully engaged — 100 percent awake — it’s impossible to perform.”
“A lot of my work is about sensitivity,” Eyal added. “I want the dancers to be like babies, without mannerism, without a future or a past. Something very clean and pure. This is challenging, because the more professional a dancer becomes, the harder it is. But I ask them to reduce, to do things in a minimal way.”
The title of the piece, “Jakie,” refers to a person Eyal chose not to identify. “It is very personal,” she said, adding that the inspiration comes from her life.
Like many of her explanations of her work, Eyal keeps the meaning intentionally open-ended. Admitting that words are not her most comfortable medium, she said, “The less I say, the more the audience will feel.”
But she is certain of one thing: the importance of dance.
“We need dance because it is freedom, connection, emotion, physicality, movement — it brings better feelings, better people, everything,” she said. “It is the most primitive thing. I prefer dancing to talking. Dance is for everyone, all the time.”
BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)