Reviews

CONTENTS:

New York Reviews of
O ther Recent Works by Sin Cha Hong
"Pilgrimage" (2006)
"The Woman Laughting" (2001)
"Four Walls" (1999)

NEW YORK REVIEWS OF "GODOT"

"Just as the full title of Liszt's "Dante Sonata" is Sonate d'après une lecture de Dante, so Hong provides us with a Danse d'après une lecture de Beckett. What is important for Liszt and Hong is not specific plot developments, but the personal feelings that arose in them after reading their literary sources....Hong lets the play take her into realms of spiritual questing. Well, that's her view, one that others may not share. But. with her focused presence she makes that view theatrically viable." -- Jack Anderson, New York Theatre Wire

"Hong's character is an older woman, remembering her glorious past, lazily and luxuriously living in the present, while clearly fearful of the future's uncertainties....The dance's verbal silence is broken by a meditation on ego and death, questioning ego-death, a very Buddhist concept yet a fitting monologue for Hong's character. I'm sure Beckett would have thrilled to be in such company....'Godot' is a fitting tribute to artists by an artist. You will leave inspired and encouraged by Hong's sincerity through her homage to a great play." -- Larry Litt, New York Theatre Wire

"There are many exciting moments in the piece - the sexy red shoes, the ghost scene where she nearly disappears in a white cloth on the floor (a short-lived taste of 'Ringu'), the rope section which reflects back to the original play, and moving moments like the recorded music sung by the unique voice of Lisa Karrer and the traditional Jewish lullaby on tape that comes at the end. I cannot begin to describe the intelligence that went into this piece. The 21st century is the time for 'smart' dancers, and here is one." -- Elodie Lauten, Music Underground

"Hong's unflinching commitment to her visually and spiritually meditative choreography is admirable" -- Shelley Molad, nytheatre.com

KOREAN REVIEWS OF "GODOT"

"A mysterious resonance follows the viewer leaving the theatre, engulfing him in a dream of (Chinese philosopher) Chuang Tzu, not knowing whether he is a butterfly dreaming of Chuang Tzu, or Chuang Tzu dreaming of a butterfly." -- New Stage (Korea)

"Sin Cha Hong superimposes the image of waiting for someone or something onto her own life. Her anticipation, endurance, and spiritual pursuit toward 'awaiting' are but a part of living. Unfettered by any rigid frame of artifice, Hong, who moves freely, and in a sense, in whichever way her mind wanders, seems to be savoring life from the zenith of that life. From this, she neither pursues nor attempts to induce a brilliant or clear answer. She only dances, naturally and effortlessly, a dance that even manages to embody a sort of playfulness." -- Jung Min Shim, Dance Forum

"In "Godot," Hong, with the simplicity and the commonplace that transcend the absurdity of Samuel Beckett, discusses with God the path that leads from everyday agonies toward death. The transcendental path of the average lies in utmost simplicity...Sin Cha Hong's debut piece, "Ritual,"at the New York Dance Theater Workshop, the philosophical titles such as "Pilgrimage," which showed at the La Mama E.T.C. in New York in November of 2006, as well as her latest work, "Godot," present Hong as a philosopher and a meditator. Her flower has taken flight, and so she has acquired the fruit...her "Godot" is a work of success that never loses its taste." -- Suk Yong Chang

NEW YORK REVIEWS OF OTHER RECENT WORKS BY SIN CHA HONG

PILGRIMAGE (2006)
Dreamlike Patterns, Delicate and Slow
by Roslyn Sulcas, New York Times, 2006

THE WOMAN LAUGHING (2001)
A Journey Through a Woman's Whole Life
By Jennifer Dunning, New York Times, 2001

They Sing of Voyages:
Veteran Travelers Assail Time and Space
by Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice, 2001

FOUR WALLS (1999)
Where Dark Enhances the Light
by Jennifer Dunning, New York Times, 1999