Reviews of "Glass Ceiling":
The second part of Unwritten is the highlight of the evening for much of the audience: a very nicely constructed, delightful and moving duet between a curious girl and a living statue (Mary-Elizabeth Fenn and Sean Hatch).... The piece itself takes on tremendous life along with the statue as he and the girl begin moving together, shifting with ease between rollicking phrases and playful partnering, describing a new found camaraderie as if on a playground with a new friend.
- Leigh Schanfein, Dance Informa, January 30, 2013
Hee Ra Yoo's “Without a Net” looked at the American Dream in a multi-cultural setting. The piece combined symbolic movements with humor.... If history is dominated by men, then Hee Ra Yoo's story “Unwritten A” was the sound of women’s silence....Hee Ra Yoo's “Glass Ceiling” showed the limitations of being a woman and of being an immigrant. She used abstract movements to show truth and meaning to these issues.
- NYCultureBeat, translated from Korean, January 30, 2013
"Without A Net"... is truly inventive and was expertly performed by Yuki [Ishiguro] and four fellow-dancers. The far wall of the space has become the floor for the dancers and they balance, stagger and climb across the actual studio floor with disorienting commitment. To live piano music - a collage of familiar and unknown works - real dance elements are woven into the choreography - a tango, a ballet pas de deux - but they are danced inside-out and sideways, so to speak.
- Oberon's Grove, January 31, 2013
Reviews of "160 Miles":
Hee Ra Yoo was born in South Korea, and her “160 Miles” presumably refers to the demilitarized zone that divides the South from the North. Though the hieratic gestures meant to suggest border hostility weren’t consistently convincing, an effect with adhesive tape was clever, making it seem as if the four dancers were peeling away the stage floor, unearthing borders beneath borders.
- Brian Seibert, The New York Times, September 7, 2012
Highlights of the [American Dance Guild] festival included Hee Ra Yoo’s 160 Miles. Yoo is originally from South Korea and 160 Miles presumably refers to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. Centered on the theme of constriction, the dancers, in cream-colored body suits crisscrossed with rope-like designs, peeled lines of tape from the floor, and then rolled across the stage, binding themselves up in the stuff. At the finale, one dancer balanced precipitously on a line of tape. She balanced for so long on a single foot that I wondered, “When will she ever find a safe place to put the other one?”
- Veronica Hackethal, The Dance Enthusiast, September 17, 2012
Yoo & Dancers were up first performing a political dance piece entitled “160 miles.” Its choreographer, Hee Ra, explained in a telephone interview that the current dictatorship in Korea was the inspiration for the piece. “One dictator changes millions of lives,” Hee Ra said, and, “as an artist passing the message is important.” Her dance troupe were entwined and entangled in a solemn and haunting representation of domination that was modern and provocative. Dancers ripped and tore tape as part of the performance and the sounds were an emotional backdrop that lingered beyond the fall of the curtain.
- Karen Clements, Jamaica Examiner, 9/19/11
There was an ingenious set up for Hee Ra Yoo's quartet 160 Miles. During intermission a large figure eight pattern... was drawn on the marleyed floor with two inch wide white tape to then be concealed by matching lines of black tape....[The dancers] lunged aggressively at one another, their bodies sometimes repelling to the floor away from each other.
- Attitude, The Dancers' Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 3 Pat Catterson
Hee Ra's work is dramatic, theatrical, and challenging. Her most recent piece, “One Hundred Sixty Miles,” reveals all of these qualities.
- Linda Tarnay, Dance Professor Emeritus, New York University 9/19/11
On "Catwalk":
Hee Ra Yoo’s “Catwalk” is the showstopper that ends the program. Five women all in white, dressed couture-like by Lara De Bruijin, compete on the catwalk. The dominant one (probably Yoo), all you see is her back (in a low cut gown) and oh what a back, as she twists her shoulders diagonally in haughty disdain. The others dodge her slicing arms. The other four get their moments in the spotlight, then challenge Yoo. Design, movement, technique, emotion, suspense, it’s got it all.
-Barbara Figg Fox, the Princeton Comment, 4/10/10
Praise for "Who Speaks for Wolf":
The work [Who Speaks for Wolf], presented at the Tisch/Dance theater heralded the emergence of a strong, new choreographic voice.
- Gus Solomons Jr, Artistic Director of "Paradigm" Dance Company
Who Speaks For Wolf is an inspired collaborative work, created by choreographer Hee Ra Yoo and composer Jonathan Manness. What is striking in their synergy is the cohesive and dynamic range of the work, embracing a compelling breadth of movement and stylistic musical diversity. While the piece stems from an American Indian sensibility, the musical and choreographic explorations create a seamless flow of variations. A testament to the effectiveness of this work, midway through, a single dancer is presented in an arresting moment, highlighted through the marvelous combination of very clever lighting design in tandem with a focused expose of music and movement.
-Ronald H. Sadoff, Ph.D., Director of Film Scoring, NYU
Hee Ra Yoo and Jonathan Manness have created a piece which invites the audience into a circle of Native American lore, richly expressed in new dance and music. What is exciting here is the meeting of cultures. The score, at times lyrical, jazzy and restless, throws shadows and light across the movement, supporting the emotional breadth of this dance, in which figures inhabit a landscape of shifting time and ancient tradition.
-Andy Teirstein, Composer
The second part of Unwritten is the highlight of the evening for much of the audience: a very nicely constructed, delightful and moving duet between a curious girl and a living statue (Mary-Elizabeth Fenn and Sean Hatch).... The piece itself takes on tremendous life along with the statue as he and the girl begin moving together, shifting with ease between rollicking phrases and playful partnering, describing a new found camaraderie as if on a playground with a new friend.
- Leigh Schanfein, Dance Informa, January 30, 2013
Hee Ra Yoo's “Without a Net” looked at the American Dream in a multi-cultural setting. The piece combined symbolic movements with humor.... If history is dominated by men, then Hee Ra Yoo's story “Unwritten A” was the sound of women’s silence....Hee Ra Yoo's “Glass Ceiling” showed the limitations of being a woman and of being an immigrant. She used abstract movements to show truth and meaning to these issues.
- NYCultureBeat, translated from Korean, January 30, 2013
"Without A Net"... is truly inventive and was expertly performed by Yuki [Ishiguro] and four fellow-dancers. The far wall of the space has become the floor for the dancers and they balance, stagger and climb across the actual studio floor with disorienting commitment. To live piano music - a collage of familiar and unknown works - real dance elements are woven into the choreography - a tango, a ballet pas de deux - but they are danced inside-out and sideways, so to speak.
- Oberon's Grove, January 31, 2013
Reviews of "160 Miles":
Hee Ra Yoo was born in South Korea, and her “160 Miles” presumably refers to the demilitarized zone that divides the South from the North. Though the hieratic gestures meant to suggest border hostility weren’t consistently convincing, an effect with adhesive tape was clever, making it seem as if the four dancers were peeling away the stage floor, unearthing borders beneath borders.
- Brian Seibert, The New York Times, September 7, 2012
Highlights of the [American Dance Guild] festival included Hee Ra Yoo’s 160 Miles. Yoo is originally from South Korea and 160 Miles presumably refers to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. Centered on the theme of constriction, the dancers, in cream-colored body suits crisscrossed with rope-like designs, peeled lines of tape from the floor, and then rolled across the stage, binding themselves up in the stuff. At the finale, one dancer balanced precipitously on a line of tape. She balanced for so long on a single foot that I wondered, “When will she ever find a safe place to put the other one?”
- Veronica Hackethal, The Dance Enthusiast, September 17, 2012
Yoo & Dancers were up first performing a political dance piece entitled “160 miles.” Its choreographer, Hee Ra, explained in a telephone interview that the current dictatorship in Korea was the inspiration for the piece. “One dictator changes millions of lives,” Hee Ra said, and, “as an artist passing the message is important.” Her dance troupe were entwined and entangled in a solemn and haunting representation of domination that was modern and provocative. Dancers ripped and tore tape as part of the performance and the sounds were an emotional backdrop that lingered beyond the fall of the curtain.
- Karen Clements, Jamaica Examiner, 9/19/11
There was an ingenious set up for Hee Ra Yoo's quartet 160 Miles. During intermission a large figure eight pattern... was drawn on the marleyed floor with two inch wide white tape to then be concealed by matching lines of black tape....[The dancers] lunged aggressively at one another, their bodies sometimes repelling to the floor away from each other.
- Attitude, The Dancers' Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 3 Pat Catterson
Hee Ra's work is dramatic, theatrical, and challenging. Her most recent piece, “One Hundred Sixty Miles,” reveals all of these qualities.
- Linda Tarnay, Dance Professor Emeritus, New York University 9/19/11
On "Catwalk":
Hee Ra Yoo’s “Catwalk” is the showstopper that ends the program. Five women all in white, dressed couture-like by Lara De Bruijin, compete on the catwalk. The dominant one (probably Yoo), all you see is her back (in a low cut gown) and oh what a back, as she twists her shoulders diagonally in haughty disdain. The others dodge her slicing arms. The other four get their moments in the spotlight, then challenge Yoo. Design, movement, technique, emotion, suspense, it’s got it all.
-Barbara Figg Fox, the Princeton Comment, 4/10/10
Praise for "Who Speaks for Wolf":
The work [Who Speaks for Wolf], presented at the Tisch/Dance theater heralded the emergence of a strong, new choreographic voice.
- Gus Solomons Jr, Artistic Director of "Paradigm" Dance Company
Who Speaks For Wolf is an inspired collaborative work, created by choreographer Hee Ra Yoo and composer Jonathan Manness. What is striking in their synergy is the cohesive and dynamic range of the work, embracing a compelling breadth of movement and stylistic musical diversity. While the piece stems from an American Indian sensibility, the musical and choreographic explorations create a seamless flow of variations. A testament to the effectiveness of this work, midway through, a single dancer is presented in an arresting moment, highlighted through the marvelous combination of very clever lighting design in tandem with a focused expose of music and movement.
-Ronald H. Sadoff, Ph.D., Director of Film Scoring, NYU
Hee Ra Yoo and Jonathan Manness have created a piece which invites the audience into a circle of Native American lore, richly expressed in new dance and music. What is exciting here is the meeting of cultures. The score, at times lyrical, jazzy and restless, throws shadows and light across the movement, supporting the emotional breadth of this dance, in which figures inhabit a landscape of shifting time and ancient tradition.
-Andy Teirstein, Composer
