We sat down with Director Choi Chul Ki of NANTA and JUMP to find out more about his upcoming "sport-formance", Flying Through Time, in Resort World Sentosa.
Where did you draw your inspirations to create such entertaining stage performances like JUMP and FLTING THROUGH TIME?
My inspirations of JUMP came from the foundations of martial arts especially Taekwondo. In South Korea, martial artists undergo training since primary school, secondary school, and University. At the end of their career, they are left with three career paths – to be an instructor or join the police force. If they can’t be either, they often end up becoming hooligans on the streets. There are cases where the police would arrest hooligans only to find that they were their seniors or juniors in school.
When I heard this story from a friend, I felt that it was very unfortunate and inspired me to stage this performance.
Before writing the performance, I will take two to three days brainstorming for ideas where I bring together all my inspirations and experiences. For example, when I first met you, I noticed that you’re very nervous. I will remember this encounter and if there is an opportunity for me to use it in my next performance, I would!
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced producing FLYING THROUGH TIME?
Gathering the right cast for the performance was a huge challenge for me. You will find that everyone performing for FLYING THROUGH TIME knows martial arts, acrobatics, and dance.
It was difficult for me to put together a team who is already trained as martial artists, athletes, and dancer. I started searching for actors who have a flexible body and brought onboard athletes to work, train and learn with them. It took the athletes awhile to learn acting skills and an even longer time for actors to reach the same physical standards as the athletes.
It was tough for Melody and Joshua to learn the basics of acrobatics but they have trained extremely hard. If you look closely, you will find that they’ve suffered a lot of bruises on their muscles because of their dedication to their training.
Their long training has paid off and they’re now able to keep up with the other members of the cast and have bonded well with them.
How was the experience working with so many people from different countries with different cultural background and speaking different languages?
FLYING THROUGH TIME has many performers from six different countries. At the start, everyone spoke a different language and come from many different cultural backgrounds. It was tough communicating and understanding one another. But because everyone has been training hard together on the same stage, we’ve learned to put all that differences behind and focus on helping one another.
What was your favorite movie of 2017?
The Outlaws
FLYING THROUGH TIME Premeres this Friday at Resorts World Sentosa.