Movers & Shapers: Young Soon Kim

A pioneer of “Hallyu: Korean Wave”, Young Soon Kim, an internationally acclaimed choreographer whose work has been hailed for its exhilarating, visually stunning, and emotionally rich phrases and textures.

Formed in 1988, WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company (New York) strives to inspire audiences through multi- dimensional dance productions reflecting themes and philosophies both modern and timeless. For nearly three decades, Ms. Kim and WHITE WAVE have appeared globally on principal stages including Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Joyce Theater, Kennedy Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, National Theater of Seoul (Korea), National Theater of Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, as well as Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Maison de la Culture in Le Havre, France; Teatro Nazionale in Milan, Teatro Tendu Striscie in Rome, Italy;

Schauspielhaus in Cologne, Germany; as well as the Festival d’Avignon in Avignon, France, among others. In 2003 Ms. Kim was featured in the documentary film Arirang: The Korean American Journey, which was premiered at the Smithsonian Institute and broadcasted nationwide by PBS. In 2013 and 2014, Ms. Kim was nominated twice for the Annual KBS Global Korean Award.

In addition, Ms. Kim has been one of the most recognized producers/curators in New York City through WHITEWAVE’s three Annual Dance Festivals: DUMBO Dance Festival, Wave Rising Series and CoolNY Dance Festival. Kim also served as a juror for New York City Department of City Affairs in 2006 and for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2014. Currently, Mr. Kim serves as a member of The Bessie Presenter League for the past three years.

Over the years, WHITE WAVE DANCE’s wide press coverage, both here and abroad, has included features for WWOR-TV Channel 9’s 10 o’clock News and Fox 5 TV’s Good Day New York, PBS Channel 13’s NYC-ARTS. During its 60-day tour of the Far East in 1996, Ms. Kim was interviewed by CNN’s Inside Asia, which aired internationally. In 2012, WHITE WAVE’s 16-member ensemble toured Korea performing “Here Now So Long” and “SSOOT,”featuring live music and video art, in Seoul, Gwangju, and Sungnam. KBS-TV captured our performance, airing in August 2012, in Korea’s version of PBS “Great Performances.”

After featured at the 2017 La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, WHITE WAVE Dance’s Canadian Première of “iyouuswe” at the 2018 Vancouver International Dance Festival was a resounding success!

The Georgia Straight’s Gail Johnson raved that “This beautifully crafted piece…present[s] moments of subtle tension, but it pulses most profoundly with harmony.” “In duets, trios, and other ever-shifting configurations, things unfurl organically; there’s a natural, poetic rhythm here that hums beneath, as if to imply things are unfolding as they should—whether it’s within a couple or the universe itself.”