The Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (KNCDC) is presenting a remarkable double bill this week, featuring artistic director Kim Sung-yong's new creation "Crawl" alongside one of contemporary choreography's most celebrated masterpieces, William Forsythe's "One Flat Thing, Reproduced." This performance marks a historic milestone as the Korean premiere of Forsythe's signature work, bringing international acclaim to Korean audiences for the first time.

"One Flat Thing, Reproduced" stands as one of Forsythe's most recognized and influential choreographic works since its original debut in February 2000 at Ballet Frankfurt in Germany, where Forsythe served as artistic director. The piece has garnered worldwide recognition and has been performed by prestigious dance companies across the globe, including the Netherlands Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Staatsballett Berlin, establishing its place in the contemporary dance canon.

While Forsythe has built his reputation primarily through ballet-based choreography, "One Flat Thing, Reproduced" represents one of his most distinctly contemporary creations. This characteristic made it an ideal choice for the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, rather than a traditional ballet company, to introduce this groundbreaking work to Korean theater audiences.

The performance begins with a striking auditory element—a harsh metallic scraping sound that fills the theater as dancers methodically drag twenty steel tables onto the stage. These tables are precisely arranged in four orderly rows, creating a stark, industrial landscape that serves as both obstacle and partner for the performers. The dancers navigate this metallic maze with extraordinary skill, climbing over, sliding under, and gliding between the glacial surfaces of the tables.

As the performers dart through this complex arrangement of metal surfaces, their movements showcase Forsythe's deep fascination with counterpoint, a musical concept that he has masterfully translated into choreographic language. Forsythe describes this approach as "a field of action in which the intermittent and irregular coincidence of attributes between organizational elements produces an ordered interplay." In practical terms, this means each dancer follows their own distinct rhythm and directional path, yet together they create an intricate, interdependent system of movement that appears both chaotic and perfectly orchestrated.

The choreography pushes the boundaries of safety and precision, creating moments of breathtaking tension where dancers come within inches of collision. In one particularly striking sequence, a dancer lies motionless on the floor while another's foot sweeps past their head with mere inches to spare. The timing must be absolutely perfect—a single mistimed movement could result in serious injury or collision among the performers.

Ayman Harper, who serves as the stager for this production, explained the complex nature of the piece's structure. "The piece is interdependent," Harper noted. "Each dancer has their own track, their own material, their own choreography. The way the piece comes together is off of a cueing system. There are hundreds of links, which means you're observing the whole time, in real time and making decisions. The dancers have to watch one another closely, looking for a series of cues, and that's completely fascinating."

Complementing Forsythe's internationally acclaimed work is "Crawl," an original creation by KNCDC artistic director Kim Sung-yong. Kim has crafted this piece with particular attention to the manipulation of speed and temporal dynamics in dance. He described his artistic vision for the work, explaining how he approached the relationship between slow and fast movement as a painter might approach brushstrokes on canvas.

"A slow movement, to me, is like painting a broad stroke on a canvas," Kim explained. "It's about filling space, patiently and fully. On top of that, I wanted moments of sharp, rapid motion to emerge clearly, so that together they create a sense of depth and dimensions." This thoughtful approach to pacing and dynamics creates a compelling contrast to Forsythe's more frenetic and mechanically precise choreography.

The KNCDC double bill performance will run for two shows only, taking place this Saturday and Sunday at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul. This limited engagement offers Korean dance enthusiasts a rare opportunity to experience both international contemporary dance mastery and innovative local choreography in a single evening of performance.