How far would you go for the love of dancing? A South Korean left her family behind to live in Nepal to “discover herself and explore her artistic expressions.”
Siyoung Song, 31, a performance artist and a dance instructor from South Korea is happy when she dances or plays the piano. For Song, performance art is a form of storytelling and self-exploration. “I explore myself when I dance, play the piano or listen to music,” she said.
“I find it meditational and healing,” she adds.
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Song is living in Chhetrapati for the past three years. She has added a Nepali first-name, Kalpana. At her studio, Solis Performing Art, where she is a member with Alize Biannic, Song is a dance and music instructor. She also dances the Manjushree Charya, a traditional Newari dance, that she loves because it gives her the opportunity to understand the culture. Apart from the Manjushree Charya, she also performs Alarippu Bharatanatyam, ballad and contemporary dance.
Siyoung began her love for music and dance when she was seven-years-old. She began her journey as a performance artist by learning to play the piano. Her piano classes helped her to learn ballet. At 23, she started to work and save her hard-earned money for her ballet lessons.
However, the more she worked, she saw how mechanical life was – find a good job, go to a good university, earn a good salary and settle down. “That was something I didn’t want to do,” she said. “Art heals me and the piano and the ballet helps me to get out of all the worldly anxiety.”
In addition, “It is very competitive in South Korea and one has to be “perfect” to survive as an artist,” Song says as she shares her reasons to come to Nepal. “But art for me is not commercial and competitive. It is a way to express myself.”
“I chose Nepal to discover myself and my art,” she said.
