ABT • I N C U B A T O R | Death and Life | Sung Woo Han

“I was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s painting “Death and Life.” In the picture, there is a god of death on the left and people on the right. Most people avoid, turn their backs, or bend their heads not to look at the god of death, but only one girl in the crowd is looking straight at death. And the girl is the only one with a look of peace.

I almost died of a lung injury when I was 17. Before that incident, I thought death was a point of arrival far away for when I was old, but it wasn’t. Death has been with me ever since. I don’t know where I’m going with death, but I wanted to make this work about the third destination.” – Choreographer Sung Woo Han