Blame Me

WED May 12 7:00 pm Konvikt / K3

Ji Eun Lee
BLAME ME
ME-SA / Kalousková – Lacová – Párová / CZ

idea and choreography Ji Eun Lee
performers ME-SA – Hana Kalousková, Martina Lacová, Karolína Páralová
lighting Vladimír Burian, Ji Eun Lee
stage design and costumes Tonda Šilar, Ji Eun Lee
music G. Sollima, A. Mashayeki, H. Henck, E. M. Pade, M. Monk, L.Hortobagyi, G. Kurta, M. Lengyelfi


The dance performance Blame Me is the last choreography piece of a loose authorial trilogy in which the author Ji Eun Lee sets to explore the human soul, the devil inside each of us, obsession bordering on insanity and last but not least, the need for reconciliation and catharsis. She says: “I don't want to run into emptiness and hide myself anymore. I'm slowly giving up, lowering my eyes. Dark and unabated waves of accusations gashing from underneath my eyelids keep swallowing me again and again.” Yet giving up in her interpretation does not mean indifferent exposure, but rather a road leading to knowledge. Through suffering and struggle, catharsis is slowly setting in, which will help to reinforce the human personality.


A Threesome Rebellion, Resignation and Reconciliation
The new choreography by ME-SA sends a message across using some top theatre dance about a struggle women have to fight in our times both within themselves and on the outside, against the external world. Lyrical images intertwined with a great many symbols refer to spiritual rituals and ceremonial character of the everyday life of a modern day individual. (...) The dancing by Hana Kalousková, Karolína Párová and Martina Lacová is fraught with huge animation and energy. The female trio totally devote themselves to their movements. In the flickering light of the almost deserted stage, the passionate physical expression of the dancers makes an outright magic impression since the situations into which they bring the onlookers possess the air of receding reality.



Korean dancer and choreographer Ji Eun Lee (b. 1979) graduated from the South Korean Hanyang University. In 2003, she won the 1st Prize at the Korean National Competition of Young Dancers. She also performed in Kim Bock Hee Dance Company under the famous choreographers Kim Bock Hee and Son Kwan Jung. Her first choreography, called Insufficiency, was presented at a prestigious Korean Japanese festival in Soeul and Tokyo. Thanks to the scholarship of the Kwanjeong Foundation, she graduated in choreography from the Dance Department at Brno's HAMU Music Academy. Objects and Grains, her European debut in 2007, was created in cooperation with Czech dancers and was presented at the following festivals: Czech Dance Platform 2007, Divadelní Flora Olomouc 2007, Dance Ostrava 2007, in Poland or at Fringe in Edinburgh. Her short piece Second Silence was awarded the 3rd Prize at the international dance competition Das beste deutsche Tanzsolo 2007 in Leipzig, Germany. She completed her Master's studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Choreography Department, in 2008 with a choreography called Angels and Demons hosted at DF 2008. At present, she works as an assistant choreographer in London.


ME-SA
The independent dance group arose from the desire to continue the 2-year cooperation of Ji Eun Lee with the three Czech and Slovak dancers Hana Kalousková, Martina Lacová a Karolína Párová. All three dancers performed in both Czech projects of Ji Eun Lee, participated at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland (Objects and Grains) and all repeat performances of Angels and Demons in Toyama, Japan. In 2009, the group brought about the site-specific project Echoes. In 2010, ME-SA plan to present two new premieres – including choreographer Lenka Vágnerová of DOT504 and the Slovak Debris Company.
The goal of the group is to present its projects intensively and extensively not only in the Czech Republic, but also at prestigious foreign festivals and to expand the spectrum of contemporary dance through their work.