The future of Korea's culture industry is convergence

Problems in execution

As for convergence in the performing arts, the LG Arts Center recently produced a contemporary ballet performance titled "Fugue". Using baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach's "The Art of Fugue BWV 1080", choreographer Jung Young-doo added his interpretation in the form of dance moves. The dancers included Kim Ji-young, principal dancer of the Korea National Ballet, and Eom Jae-yong, principal dancer of the Universal Ballet Company.

The center said it set the contemporary dance performance to a well-known piece of classical music in order to appeal to a wider audience, including an international audience.

However, converging multiple forms of art can be challenging. Dancer Yoon Jeon-il, one of the seven performers, said it was difficult for him to dance to the music, as he doesn't have "the ability to interpret music".

This was mostly true for the rest of the dancers as well, which performing arts critic Kang Icc-mo, who is also a professor of culture and arts at Seoul Digital University, said is problematic.

"I was curious to know how much dancers understood the music before expressing it with their bodies, but it seems like they couldn't," he said, stressing the importance of educating artists in diverse genres.

"We also have to look at why we have an increasing number of convergence in the field of culture and arts," Kang added. "It's because the government is providing financial support for this kind of performance, and as long as there’s money there, there will be performances. So if they are going to continue to do it, they should do it right."