Dancing Grandmothers
OzAsia Festival – Dunstan Playhouse, Friday 26^th October 2018

(Reviewed by John Glennie)

A vibrant and energetic show from Korea, choreographed by Eun-Me Ahn, and comprising 10 grandmothers and 9 K-Pop young dancers (4 male and 5 female from memory!).

The show was essentially in 3 parts – the first starting with a sole grandmother moving slowly back and forth across the stage with a full size fast-paced video of the Korean countryside playing in the background. Eventually she is joined by other members of the troupe coming and going from the stage to modern techno music. For me this part went a bit too long and in some cases dancers just ran from one curtain, across the stage and out another curtain. Not sure if that was supposed to signify something but it was still enjoyable to watch (just too long!).

What I call part 2 was a video captured by Anh when she toured the Korean countryside searching for grandmothers. This was entertaining and, in some instances, quite funny. The video had no sound and showed grandmothers dancing at work – in shops, in fields, in restaurants, etc. Again, this part went a bit too long for me.

Part 3 was back to dancing on stage but with more contemporary Korean music and great contrasts between the “oldies” and the “young’uns”. Again, some excellent energy being displayed by both age-brackets. As a finale, after all the dancers lined up and bowed to the audience, Anh came on stage and invited the audience to join the dancers on stage for a last song. Probably 100-odd took up the offer – including me – and joined this delightful and happy dance-troupe on stage. Great way to finish an enjoyable evening of entertainment.