Jung-Ah Chung

Born and raised in South Korea, Jung-Ah Chung was educated at the Seoul Music and Arts School and obtained a bachelor degree in dance from Seoul’s Ehha Women’s University in 1993. Her professional career has been highlighted as a dancer and a choreographer on Asian and European stages abroad. Jung-Ah Chung’s remarkable performance at the 4th Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint Denis with the work Empty Space won the Best Dancer Prize.

Jung-Ah immigrated to Canada, British Columbia in the late 90s. During her integration to Canada’s dance scenario, she participated at fDIFA with Sound Images (1999) and 90 Minute Improv (1999, 2000, 2001) as well as danced at the Ontario Dance Weekend with Parahumans Dance Theatre. She has also worked with innumerous dance troupes such as Ballet Victoria, the Tripod Dance Collective, the Out of the Box Productions, the Suddenly Dance Theatre, the Wen Wei Dance and the Battery Opera. Jung-Ah collaborated with Constance Cooke for her shows The Handless Maiden and Salome Head Huntress, which premiered in Vancouver during the Dancing on the Edge events in 2002 and 2003.

Beyond her work as a dancer, Jung-Ah has developed her own choreographies (Shape, A Shout of Joy, On the Way) permitting her to deepen her research. In 1998 her choreography Woman in the House was presented in Seoul at the first Next Wave Dance Festival. In 2001, Jung-Ah was invited to present her creation Skin during the Korean Contemporary Dance Company's 25th anniversary. She has also participated in film and video projects such as My Orlando, Nature Ecstasy Opium and Aisling for Bravo television channel and for a multimedia installation at the Suddenly Dance Theatre. In 2005, Jung-Ah directed, choreographed and danced in her own film Drive.

Chung is dancing queen
Sometimes it’s better to leave the audience wondering, to let us find our own sense of meaning in the movements and go home talking about it. Victoria’s own Jung-ah Chung achieved this beautifully in her dark piece Connection, which might have been about ideals of female beauty or censorship.
by Sam VanSchie
Martlet,University of Victoria’s Independant Newspaper

Photos

Photo by Helene Cyr

Photo by Helene Cyr