Permit Dance Halls in Gyeongseong

Does the world keep progressing?

As a child I believed the world progressed in a straight line, with utopia at its end. Living longer, I came to think it moves in a slow spiral, circling and repeating, progressing only little by little — very slowly.

What is the difference between the people of 1930s Gyeongseong (colonial Seoul) and those of Seoul in 2010? The city has advanced, but what about people’s consciousness? Are humans forever unable to change their minds before capital? The play began from a question: if the body were liberated from capital, could a “liberated body” heal a wounded consciousness? Desire and dance; dance and healing — a fitting pair, isn’t it?

Café Minerva, 1930s Gyeongseong, run by film actress Shin Hye-suk, lover of the poet Oh Gi-chan, is a haunt of idle intellectuals, women painters and other cultural figures — a café by day and a dance hall by night. But when the Government-General declares a “state of emergency” and bans dancing in Korea, Gi-chan leaves to search for gold and Hye-suk struggles to keep the café going. The gold mine fails and life grows harder. Their hopes dashed, they gather at the café once more and throw a riotous dance.