Zephyrous Travels: Korean Non-Verbal Performance

Korea Non-Verbal Performance

Visitors to South Korea had heard or came across names of Korean Non-verbal performances such as Nanta. The Korean Non-verbal performances keep audiences entertained with the exaggerated expressions, non-verbal jokes as well as the stunts. Through these non-verbal performances, audiences will be introduced the Korean culture, be it dance, martial arts or cuisine. The more popular Korean non-verbal performances in South Korea are Nanta, Chef, and Jump, which has been running in Korea for more than 10 years.

Flying Through Time standee at the entrance of the theatre

Flying Through Time

The third Korean non-verbal performance to hit the shores of Singapore for the past 6 months is Flying Through Time. This is also the third performance that I have watched over the past months. Flying Through Time is directed by Choi Chul Ki, the same director who brought previous Korean non-verbal performances such as Chef: Bibimbap Vs Chili Crab and Jump that was shown in Singapore in the past few months. Flying Through Time is a new adaption of Director Choi's popular show Flying in Korea.

Posting with the standee outside the theatre

The Plot

Flying Through Time is set in ancient Korea about a mythical relic that was bestowed by a fairy that was stolen by a villain. When the hero of the show found out, he battles the villain to retrieve back the mythical relic. In the course of the battle, a time portal opens up and the villain escaped the portal with the relic. The hero pursued the villain through the portal and ended up in modern-day a cheerleader training centre in Singapore where the hero continues to hunt the villain and retrieved the mythical relic. In the midst of the pursuit, the hero fell in love with one of the cheerleader members. Towards the end of the performance, a time portal opens up again for the ancient beings to return to their timeline. The hero, not wanting to leave his love behind, returns through the time portal to be together with his lover.

The first part of Flying Through Time uses multimedia projection as the backdrop

I find the use of multimedia as the backdrop rather refreshing

Korean cultural dance at the beginning of the show

Modern dance towards the end of the show

Cheerleading dance during the show

My Thoughts on the Show

The plot is easy for audiences to understand, even without language. I thought the virtue of these non-verbal performances lies in the non-complicating plot that one still have to ponder over the flow of the plot. The show is rather entertaining. I particularly like the interaction with the multimedia projection where one of the actors interacted with the projection of the villain. The timing and the placement of the actor onstage was immaculate, creating the impression as though he is fighting a real person. Unlike the previous non-verbal Korean performances that made its run in Singapore, Flying Through Time uses wires to hang the actors up in the air in several scenes, which was both refreshing and impressive. There is a scene where the actors were performing aerial dancing with the hammocks, mixed with gymnastics, creating a graceful visual effect. Interaction with the audience by getting a member of the audience on stage to participate in the play is a signature of Korean Non-verbal performances. I always enjoy this segment of the Korean non-verbal performances, which not just adds more laughter to the performance, it also immerses the audience into the performance.

I like the use of wires that suspend the actors in the air

A scene where the actors are fighting on wires in the air

Aerial dancing segment during the show

More aerial dancing

Mix of gymnastics and aerial dancing

My friend being pulled to the stage during the show

Interaction with audience is a signature of Korean non-verbal performance

My friend participating Flying Through Time

The actors whispering to my friend on how to react to achieve a comedic effect onstage

My friend on the stage

Interaction with audience segment

My friend part of the show

My friend trying to coordinate with the act during the show

My friend was given an inflatable club by the actors as a souvenir for his participation in the show

One of the things that I watched out for during the Korean non-verbal performances is the anti-gravity stunts. In Flying Through Time, the audiences were treated to a plethora of such performances, not only from the male casts but also the female casts. The show has numerous anti-gravity stunts such as somersaults, gymnastics and Taekwondo. I was awed by a scene where one of the actors performing a Taekwondo fly kicking stunt where he smashed a wooden plate with his leg that was held up high by an actor who was sitting on the shoulders of another. I was also impressed with some of the gymnastics move where one of the actors had his body positioned parallel to the floor held in place with his strong arms on the stand of the parallel bars. The several scenes of cheerleading performances, where the actresses were tossed into the air and caught in time by their male counterparts on stage, shown precision in timing of the performances which is very impressive. However, I do find the use of local Singapore colloquial mixing Hokkien with English and Mandarin is unnecessary as the performance is sufficient to create laughter in the theatre. It is a good thing that the use of these languages isn't too excessive. I also find the use of gymnastics in the show, though impressive, seem a little out of the place and seem like a force fit into the show. Nonetheless, my friends and I still enjoyed Flying Through Time. The stunts that are being performed during the show is worth the ticket price.