Cha Cha Cha
Immersive SF fantasy humanism comedy technical sung-through open parenthesis possibly close parenthesis blockbuster musical
- DateJun. 21–23, 2024 (FRI–SUN)
- TimeFRI 19:30 / SAT 15:00, 19:00 / SUN 14:00
- PlaceTheater 1
- Age LimitEntry allowed for those ages 7 or older
- Seating100 seats (unreserved)
- Price All seats KRW 30,000
- TicketFoundation Website / Ticket Booth / Call Center
- Contact+82-1899-5566
- Running time100 min (promenade performance, no intermission)
- Information※ Reservation via the Asia Culture Foundation web page at 10:00, May 2 (THU)
※ Guest bookings for foundation-sponsored shows can only be made and canceled through the foundation’s website.
※ This performance features active audience participation.
Gallery
Visitor Guide
Booking and Visitors Information
Touch tour and movement workshop for audience members with visual impairment
- “Cha Cha Cha” is a promenade performance featuring significant degrees of audience participation.
- All stages of the performance will include touch tours and movement workshops intended for audience members with visual impairment. The touch tour includes a session dedicated to the format of the performance, characters, and the stage and another dedicated to simple choreography in the performance.
- Guides will accompany the audience members with visual impairment throughout the touch tour and the performance. Don’t be afraid to participate in the performance with the help of your guide!
- We recommend that audience members with visual impairment take part in the touch tour to get the most out of the performance. However, please note that applications for touch tours may close early because of the limited number of guides available.
- If you have a visual impairment and would like to join the touch tour, please contact the Call Center (1899-5566) directly to reserve your spot. We will be more than happy to share further details about the touch tour.
Tips
- This performance features active audience participation. If you want to get the most out of this performance, refer to the choreography tutorial video to learn the songs and dance in advance. A new choreography tutorial will be made available before the performance!
- The performance includes significant amounts of movement for the audience members. In addition, the audience members will be asked to join the dancing, so we request everyone to wear comfortable clothing and shoes. Deposit all your belongings in the cloakroom to keep your hands free as you participate!
- The performance begins with a roll call of the audience members’ names. The audience members are asked to fill out a guest log upon arriving at the performance venue. Please write your name or nickname.
Suitable Viewing Age
- Rating: Entry available for ages 7 or older (Born in 2017 or earlier or older than elementary school student (grade 1))
- Please make sure to bring a certificate or document that may prove your date of birth (e.g., Public Health Insurance Certificate, Resident Registration Certificate, Passport, Student Card, etc.).
- ※ Viewers under the age limit cannot enter the venue regardless of the ticket held or accompanied by a guardian
Ticket Booking and Reception
- Reception of reserved tickets and on-site ticket purchases are available one hour before the commencement of the performance.
- ※ The reservation number of the booker’s mobile phone number must be checked before receiving the ticket
- For those who wish to book wheelchair seats, please contact us via the Call Center (☏1899-5566) for booking.
Viewing Information
- National Asian Culture Center strictly restricts viewer rate, mid-performance entry, and photography for a pleasant viewing experience.
- ※ Viewers are responsible for failure to understand the entry regulations.
- Viewers can enter the venue 30 minutes before the performance, and will be prohibited entry once the performance begins.
- ※ The entry time may vary by the nature of the performance and on-site situation; please enter the venue 10 minutes before.
Citizens’ community “Crows” Go to +
- In the funeral rite “Cha Cha Cha,” ravens usher in visitors and draw the souls from between the worlds of the living and the dead and the cracks in the dimensions. “Crows” assist the ravens in this task.
- “Cha Cha Cha” seeks to redefine participatory performance with the citizens of Gwangju. To this end, we hope to recruit 20 Gwangju residents as members of the “Crows,” who will partake in workshops to learn the choreography and participate in the dance. We look forward to meeting the new “Crows” who will dance and weave new connections with us. We look forward to your participation.
Introduction
Immersive SF fantasy humanism comedy technical sung-through
open parenthesis possibly close parenthesis blockbuster musical
open parenthesis possibly close parenthesis blockbuster musical
Cha Cha Cha
“Cha Cha Cha” is an immersive musical performance jointly created by the performers and the audience members, blurring the lines between the spectators and the stage.
The audience members actively sing and dance, experiencing the performance through their senses beyond mere sight and hearing.
We welcome all dance moves as long as they come with curiosity and an open heart for communal dancing and singing!
The audience members actively sing and dance, experiencing the performance through their senses beyond mere sight and hearing.
We welcome all dance moves as long as they come with curiosity and an open heart for communal dancing and singing!
Writer’s Notes
- Some funerals pass us by.
- Some of them were of those who were somewhat distant, those with whom we had exchanged a few words, or those we had shared a nod from far away, and yet, others were for those whose presence touched our hearts, albeit briefly.
Whenever I heard that those who I had hoped would live long had left this world, I found myself holding onto my daily routine even harder. With all sorts of excuses, I went to the supermarket, purchased apples, and made jam. I also went running along the Uicheon Stream, cleaned my desk, and went to bed much earlier. - I imagine death rather frequently because in all of the stories I have written so far, someone has always died.
Perhaps that was someone who had existed in this world; perhaps that was myself. - Whenever I imagine death, I try to embellish it as much as possible, devoid of fear and regret. But it is not easy. No such death can be found in this world. Whenever I reach this thought, I toss and turn until dawn, leaving the following day in disarray. The day after, I slowly get on with my life again, going to a café and ordering a cup of expensive filter coffee, perhaps with a slice of cake. I then bury myself in unread books amid the buzz of surrounding conversations, scribble things, and find stories, weaving and writing them into narratives.
- When I wake up from a satisfying dream, I find that I don’t want to get out of bed.
- I try to recollect the pieces, quilt drawn over my head. Knock, knock, knock, half-asleep, trying to retrieve the pieces one at a time. These pieces fuel another day in my life. I wanted to share these things with the souls who come to stay with us in the “Cha Cha Cha,” as well as the guests who join us in between the dimensions.
I hope this festival can serve as that satisfying dream, one to look back to and grasp once in a while during their days.
Director’s Note
- Is there a form of condolence one can do in a performance?
- The unacceptable deaths that one finds in society, the discomfort in funerals of our loved ones,
and condolences for the ones left behind—these things are in my mind. - When one faces another person’s death,
- I hope one can come to find ways to come to terms with one’s heart in that stifling loss,
with the experience of “Cha Cha Cha” emerging from the subconscious and shining in that moment.
Synopsys
“This is not the end of life I wanted!”
Four souls find themselves ensnared within this liminal space between life and death, between the dimensions. Once they overcome the initial shock of coming into this strange and unfamiliar space, they slowly begin to trace their memories, the last recollection they have of life, and the funerals they didn’t want.
The ravens and the visitors decide to help the souls recreate their final memories, but with one condition: The funeral must be a combined one between the four souls!
People who have lived different lives and souls who want different funerals. The ones who have come to this in-between after going through their lives in their own trajectories cannot easily find a way to prepare their combined funeral. As they fight, ignore, and criticize each other, forgotten memories come to mind—the moments when their lives had intersected. The four souls begin breaking down the walls in their hearts.
What kind of condolences do they need? How shall we, as visitors, approach them?
Joyful dancing and songs? Quiet moments? Short handshakes or elaborate ceremonies?
A funeral where one can look back on one’s life with happiness, a place where the departing and those left behind can bid farewell with contentment. We invite you to this wake in between dimensions. To all souls who have left after concluding their stories in silence, we hope they can share the warmth of condolences with those left behind. In life and death, may happiness be found.
A moment of silence for our deaths and funerals! If you don’t want that, dance!
Four souls find themselves ensnared within this liminal space between life and death, between the dimensions. Once they overcome the initial shock of coming into this strange and unfamiliar space, they slowly begin to trace their memories, the last recollection they have of life, and the funerals they didn’t want.
The ravens and the visitors decide to help the souls recreate their final memories, but with one condition: The funeral must be a combined one between the four souls!
People who have lived different lives and souls who want different funerals. The ones who have come to this in-between after going through their lives in their own trajectories cannot easily find a way to prepare their combined funeral. As they fight, ignore, and criticize each other, forgotten memories come to mind—the moments when their lives had intersected. The four souls begin breaking down the walls in their hearts.
What kind of condolences do they need? How shall we, as visitors, approach them?
Joyful dancing and songs? Quiet moments? Short handshakes or elaborate ceremonies?
A funeral where one can look back on one’s life with happiness, a place where the departing and those left behind can bid farewell with contentment. We invite you to this wake in between dimensions. To all souls who have left after concluding their stories in silence, we hope they can share the warmth of condolences with those left behind. In life and death, may happiness be found.
A moment of silence for our deaths and funerals! If you don’t want that, dance!
Characters
RavenKim Si-yeon
NaraKim Sae-ha
RavenNa Yu-jin
RavenMin Ji-hee
SoriPark Se-hwa
GadaAhn Tae-jun
RavenIm Yeong-sik
SeongseokIm Jin-woong
-
Raven
- A mysterious being who beckoned the four souls to this space between the dimensions
They retrieve souls along the road to the afterlife to present them with opportunities for funerals. They have tirelessly worked on this task for a long time, considering it a mission given by the divine. -
Seongseok
- A queer person listed as the oldest person in the world by the Guinness World Records
Seongseok seeks to challenge the limits of the human lifespan and rips apart their will before departing from the world. -
Gada
- A refugee who goes to Italy on their birthday,
Gada shares a canned bean pasta with their uncle the day before.
Then, Gada gets on a boat, which, unfortunately, sinks in the Mediterranean. -
Nara
- An astronaut whose food supply has run out after losing contact with Earth for some time,
Nara starves to death in silence. -
Sori
- Sori, an actor, soars on a wire above a running train.
The script calls for Sori to grab onto the skids of a helicopter,
but the wire breaks, sending Sori plummeting to death.
Crew and Cast
Produced By: Elephants Laugh
Founded in 2009, Elephants Laugh is dedicated to constantly creating works under the three keywords of spatiality, community, and audience participation. Elephants Laugh’s works are mostly based on engaging in and establishing relationships with communities found in states of normalcy (refugees, textile businesses in the Guro Industrial Complex, small businesses in Ipjeong-dong, people with visual impairment, seniors, etc.). Their works are characterized by a wide range of attempts that cannot be described in a single genre. They create new forms in accordance with the individual themes of the performance, and rather than relying on language alone, their works explore different senses. Furthermore, Elephants Laugh delves into how the role of the audience can be expanded in performance settings, creating performances where audience members can take direct part in the act or forge a performance together with the cast.
Major works include “Bodies in the Dark” (2015), where audience members explore senses and ethics through their bodies in the dark; “MULJIL” (2016), a work made in conjunction with refugee communities that captures the moment where the marginalized of the society, refugees, and other members of the audience connect; “3pm to 3pm, 4pm to 4pm” (2019), a 24-hour performance that seeks to reduce the gap between the speed of time lived by people with visual impairment and that of those without; “People from Doksan” (2020), a promenade performance capturing stories from the Doksan 3-dong neighborhood; “Community Carnival” (2022), which explores body languages with the visually impaired community; and “Cha Cha Cha” (2023), a participatory musical where the audience members find their own funerals and condolences.
Credits
- CastKim Si-yeon, Kim Sae-ha, Na Yu-jin, Min Ji-hee, Park Se-hwa, Ahn Tae-jun, Im Yeong-sik, Im Jin-woong
Creative Team
- WriterBae Hae-ryul
- ProducerLee Jin-yeop
- MusicJimmy Sert
- ChoreographyKwon Ryeong-eun
- Assistant ChoreographySeong Seung-jeong
- Vocal CoachJeong Jun
- ProgrammingLee Ho-yeon
- Assistant ProducerChoi Won-seok
- Costume DesignJeong Ho-jin
- Light DesignShin Dong-seon
- StageSong Seong-won
- Sound DirectorJeon Min-bae
- Stage DirectorKim Seong-deok
- MakeupBaek Ji-yeong
- Title DesignKim Yeong-seon
- Accessibility ManagerLee Ae-ri
- Community OperationSeo Hyeon-seong
- Hosted byNational Asian Culture Center
- Supervised ByAsian Culture Center Foundation
- Created ByElephants Laugh
- Joint ProductionElephants Laugh, LG Arts Center Seoul, Geumcheon Foundation for Arts and Culture
- Sponsored ByKorea Disability Arts & Culture Center
Place Info.
ACC Theater, Theater 1
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