Annyeong-haseo from Korea!

nina — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:00:35 +0000

Annyeong-haseo from Korea! (Works for Good Morning, afternoon or evening!)
Sitting in the international terminal at the Atlanta Airport, I watch as the gleaming silver and light aqua blue, double-decker, 747-400 taxis to the gate. The muted tones that reflect a bygone era of jet passenger service are synonymous with Korean Air, widely acknowledged as the best in the world whether flying economy, business, or first class. At 12:30, I boarded the svelte behemoth for the 14 and 1/2 hour flight to Seoul/Incheon Airport in the Republic of Korea. I have been invited by SangMyung University to create and direct my Gainesville Association for Creative Arts’ drama and musical theatre camps for Korean students ages 8 – 18 at SangMyung’s fine arts campus in Cheonan-si, just 70 kilometers southwest of the university’s main campus in Seoul.
I have assembled a fabulous team of arts colleagues to assist me in this project. Accompanying me on this flight is Robert Ponzio, my colleague and fine arts chair at Oak Hall School where I am entering my fourth year as Performing Arts Director and Cofrin Theatre Manager. (Yes, I wear many hats!). “Ponz” as he is known to students and friends, will be my assistant director in charge of set design for the three shows we will create while in Korea. With us is another of my colleagues at Oak Hall, Music Director Jason Stahl. Jason will be focusing primarily on vocal music for the shows. Finally, departing from Los Angelos and meeting us at the Incheon Airport will be my choreographer for this project, Jennifer Worthington. I’m sure many of our GACA families and students will remember her. Jen was my lead dance teacher at GACA for almost four years, until last year when her teaching career took her to sunny southern California. She also choreographed three summers of summer musical theatre and drama camp shows for me, which means that over that period she designed dances for 48 different kids in 48 shows! No choreographer knows my system for creating these fast-paced theatrical experiences than Jen, so when the opportunity to go international with my camps arose, she was my first choice!
By 6:30 PM Seoul time (5:30 AM back in Florida), we had all arrived safely, collected our bags, cleared customs, and were greeted by our host and one of the lead coordinators of the partnership between GACA and SangMyung, KyungEun Oh. She graciously took us for our first meal on Korean soil at a little cafe that served an assortment of spicy stews of seafood, noodles, and tofu (toobu in Korean). Then we piled our gear into a waiting van for the 70 kilometer highway jaunt to Cheonan. Once we pulled into the city, we stopped for an impromptu shopping tour at an E-Market. This is a multi-storied, grocery, clothing, dry goods, electronics, etc. extravaganza that makes super Wal-Mart look like a 7-11 convenience store! My colleagues picked up a few necessities they realized had been lacking in their packing! Prices are actually pretty reasonable, however the exchange rate (currently about 1200 won to a dollar) makes paying 3000 for a stick of deodorant seem a little daunting!
Back in the van, we careened around some steep roads up to the Cheonan-si (“si” means “city” in Korean) campus of SangMyung University which overlooks Cheonan’s downtown from its elevated perch. The local time was already midnight, so we quickly headed to our comfortable private rooms, each with a private bath, on the 5th floor of a dorm building that would be judged as fairly elegant by most standards. Our rooms have an excellent view of the mountains surrounding the city. We all didn’t waste much time after over 30 hours of wakefulness in retiring to our beds following skyping home to our families to alert them of our safe arrival. I only managed about 6 hours of sleep and awoke ready to begin preparation for the arrival of our first students on Sunday.

Gainesville Association for the Creative Arts » drama

Annyeong-haseo from Korea!