‘The body is everything’: Sung Im Her’s insatiable desire for dance

Each time she takes the stage, the Korean choreographer and dancer asks if it will be the last time. She reflects on crushing stereotypes, breaking into theatre and her 100 failed auditions

Sung Im Her was 19 when she took her first dance class. On day one, the teacher told her to lose 20kg in a month and gave her something to bite on while forcing her legs towards the splits. “Harsh, very harsh. Absolutely not recommended,” says the now 47-year-old Korean choreographer and dancer. That punitive beginning would surely have put off many, but Her had become hooked on dance from watching TV and films such as Dirty Dancing and Flashdance. She was hungry – a word she uses many times in our conversation – to discover more.

“Six months later,” she says, “I got on to the contemporary dance course at Hansung University [in Seoul], with top marks. For four years I began at 7am every single day. I then did the two-year master’s degree. But I was still hungry: I wanted more freedom, I wanted to explore.”