NEW YORK—"Dance is my life, I realized this four years ago when I almost gave up ballet," explained Cha Seong-ho. The 24-year-old golden award winner of Korea's National Dance Competition told an Epoch Times reporter that he only understood the true meaning of dance in the past several months when he started to get in touch with Chinese classical dance.
Cha Seong-ho was born in South Korea. During his childhood, his family lived in different cities in South Korea and the United States because his father was in the Air Force. Cha said that it was his mother's violin and his father's opera that comforted his little heart during those unstable days.
Cha took his first ballet class in high school at age 15. Immediately, he felt that this was what he wanted to do with his life. Cha decided to be a professional dancer.
Accompanied by graceful music, Cha tirelessly practiced the difficult techniques, one after another. As he reveled in the happiness of having overcome himself, Cha reached closer to perfecting the standard movements of classical ballet. Cha said that his earlier tae kwon do training helped him a lot in overcoming the physical difficulties encountered in performing those unique ballet techniques.
In 2001, Cha Seong-ho won the Gold Medal in the Sungkyunkwan National Dance Competition and the Silver in the Korea National Ballet Competition while a student in Dae Jeon Art High School. After he graduated from Sejong University, Korea's best dance academy, Cha received contract offers from many U.S. dance companies to be lead dancer. As time passed, however, Cha began to feel that he had reached a plateau in his performing career.
Cha has excellent skill, but at five feet, seven inches he is rather on the short side, and it is difficult to find partners for him. Consequently some dance companies are reluctant to employ him. In Korea, connections are very important in the dance world. Cha saw many performers whose techniques were not as good as his being employed in a position he had applied for. In America, many dance companies were not willing to employ him because of his foreign student visa. Cha loves classical ballet, but there is only a limited list of plays and therefore limited room for survival. For financial reasons, many dance companies have to create modern ballet dances to cater to the audience, which is not the art Cha loves.
Done With Ballet, Saved By Chinese Classical Dancing
One day in 2003, Cha decided to give up dancing. He tried his best to avoid anything related to dance. Two months later, he felt himself stuck in depression. Life without dance was like a desert to him. Cha was so happy when he finally went back to the dance practice room.
At the end of 2006, Cha tried Chinese classical dance. He was surprised to learn that a Chinese classical dancer needs very solid ballet skills. In the past, he thought that Chinese classical dance was similar to Korean classical dance, a totally different system from ballet. Also to his surprise, Cha discovered that Chinese classical dance also includes martial arts movement and tumbling skills which he was quite familiar with from his tae kwon do training.
"I have never been so moved", Cha described his feeling when he saw the New Tang Dynasty Spectacular show in Radio City in February. Cha said that Chinese classical dance looks so graceful, the movements look simple yet contain a divine beauty that is touching. Together with the music and screen design, the performance was very charming. Chinese classical dance, with a history of a thousand years, is a treasure trove of mankind's rich culture. Only Chinese classical dance can give the artist endless performance space to enact the story and psychological factors of all kinds of characters and roles.
Now Cha realizes why he chose to become a dancer and the reason for all his past efforts. It seems Chinese classical dance is the perfect home for his talent. It is something he has been seeking for a long time.
Cha believes this is a turning point in his dancing career. Since February, he has been looking for Chinese classical dance teachers in New York. In four short months he has made fast progress because he has a very good foundation and also because of his dedication.
The International Chinese Classical Dance Competition is just around the corner. Cha said that he is very confident about his skill. However he is not sure whether he can express the posture and rhythm perfectly. He promises to do his best in the competition.
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