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| The Life of Princess Bari ©Young Mo Choe |
What a wonderful start to the beginning of the altstadtherbst!
Having treated to us to a performance that threw the audience into a feast of colour, beautiful images, hypnotic beats and sometimes playful expressive movements, the ensemble Eun-Me Ahn thrilled the audience in the purpose-built festival marquee on Burgplatz last night. Happily rewarded with rapturous clapping, whistles and stamping feet exclaiming pure appreciation and joy, as the company took their final bows, a real magic moment of theatre was created by this South Korean ensemble that arrived in Düsseldorf fresh from the Edinburgh Festival.
Last week I met a Korean curator who told me 'oh Eun-Me Ahn, she's kind of crazy ...!" and my, she wasn't wrong. This piece is crazy, but in the nicest, nicest possible way. It was simply sensational!
The Life of Princess Bari is a real mix of the traditional Korea and very modern dance, hip hop even. The live percussionists left of the stage had everyone raptured in their seats with the energy they were immersing us in, an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair right in front of me bopped away for ages with such a lovely smile on his face. It was such a joy to see the artists and audience have so very much fun.
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| The Life of Princess Bari ©Young Mo Choe |
How can I describe the piece? It was kind of like a mix of Alice in Wonderland meets The Yellow Submarine in an Asian world. It's all still swirling around in my mind, I'd love to go again, but am seeing French illusionist tonight, Le Soir des Monstres, at the Tanzhaus NRW this evening, also part of the incredible altstadtherbst that we are so very lucky to have here in the city every fall.
Go see! There are still tickets available for Princess Bari tonight and Saturday and to all who are going, including our lucky winners, you are in for a real treat! Lucky you!
The altstadtherbst continues until October 3.
