Nanta, Jump, Miso, and Bibop – these are all Korea’s signature non-verbal performances, a must-see destination for foreign visitors. And now there is one more spectacular addition to these stellar plays and that is the non-verbal fantasy musical “Karma.” Presented in an exclusive theater, “Karma” is based on a Korean myth.

“Karma” is a classic tale of struggle between good and evil, which dates farther back than the time of Dangun, the founding father of Korea. It was the time of gods, who ruled over the sky, the earth, and everything in between. The musical presents a story of how the gods loved, schemed, fought, and reconciled in the ancient times.

It’s a story from the pre-Dangun time. If the musical was based on the myth of Dangun, it would have the tiger, the bear, and Hwanwung, the son of heaven, but we imagined a world even before that - a world of heaven and gods, a world that is so Asian that it’s fantastical and awe-inspiring. Since the performance is non-verbal, the plot had to be simple to understand. So we made the conflict between good and evil very clear. Love story is also a requirement, so it has a goddess named Aria who falls in love. It also includes various modes of bodily expressions, such as Korean traditional dance, martial arts, and even Asian painting.

That was the show’s producer, Kwon Eun-jeong. “Karma” is currently on open-run at the Salvation Army Art Hall in western Seoul. The 580-seat theater is Korea’s largest venue devoted to one performance. An interesting fact about “Karma” is that it came to Korea after debuting overseas and receiving rave reviews about its artistic quality and mass appeal. That means “Karma” was geared toward foreign audience from the beginning. Here’s the show’s producer Kwon Eun-jeong again.



I’ve been working in this business for 14 years now. Even back then, there were several Korean performance pieces that were shown overseas to positive reviews. They were applauded for being interesting and unique. However, most of them failed to show the very best of Korean culture. When I was working overseas, I felt at a loss when I was asked, “What exactly is Korean culture.” So I came back to Korea and set to work on a Korean fantasy that was based on pre-Dangun time. I also added Korean traditional dance to the piece, hoping to shatter the misconception that Korean dance is boring.

Since its debut in 2007, “Karma” toured 25 cities in 12 countries and has been featured as an opening or closing piece in major international festivals. It was applauded as the most popular performance by the audience, selected as the best performance, and set many amazing records in just five years. Here’s the show’s producer Kwon Eun-jeong to explain more.

“Karma” toured 25 cities in 12 countries. Those who saw the show would have realized that Korea has a very strong culture of performance. The musical won a lot of awards, too, such as the audience favorite in the Fadjr International Theater Festival in Tehran, Iran, and the best performance at the La Nao International Festival 2008 in Acapulco, Mexico. The show was also given five stars at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and invited as the “Champion of the Fringe” at the Dubai Fringe Festival in 2008.

It is evident from Kwon’s account that the world raved about “Karma” even before the show made it into Korea. What is its global appeal? The best way to answer that question is to see the performance.

When the curtain rises, the audience sees a stunning group dance number by Karis, the sun god, and his love and moon goddess Aria, joined by the four guardian gods – the azure dragon, the white tiger, the red phoenix, and the black tortoise. This is perhaps the first time many foreign spectators have seen Korean traditional dance. Here’s actress Kim Joo-hee who plays the goddess of the stars.



The goddess of the stars guards the heavenly world together with other guardian gods. This goddess is actually the leader of several dance numbers. In addition to me, there are six more gods of the stars, who are all played by dancers who majored in Korean traditional dance. Most people mistakenly think that Korean dance is boring, but the dancers who play the gods of the stars break that preconception with their modern interpretations. Their dance numbers in “Karma” are powerful, captivating, and fun to watch.

Four guardian gods who appear with the goddess of the stars represent not only the four directions – east, west, south, and north – but also the four seasons. The blue dragon represents the east and spring, the black tortoise the north and winter, the white tiger the west and autumn, and the red phoenix the south and summer. Through these gods, “Karma” incorporates the mythological ideas of the East to its characters. Here’s actor Lee Sang-woo who plays the azure dragon.

The four guardian gods protect the four directions. My role, the blue dragon, defends the east. After the black tortoise becomes too greedy and transforms into Asura, the god of greed, I fight him off with two other gods in a martial arts scene.

The black tortoise, the god of the north, falls in love with Aria, the lover of the sun god Karia. He kills Karis to take his power and his love.

The scene in which the black tortoise and god of the north kills Karis is rendered bloodless with a shadow play. With the death of Karis, who ruled over all heaven, the celestial world falls into chaos and the black tortoise transforms into Asura, the god of greed.

After killing Karis, Asura gets his hands on Karis’s red enchanted fruit. Here’s the show’s producer Kwon Eun-jeong again.



There is this red enchanted fruit that grants infinite power to whoever possesses it. Asura steals that fruit. Then, the three remaining guardian gods and Aria resurrects Karis to take back the enchanted fruit. That scene is played out in dance and martial arts.

This is where the show gets more exciting. The three remaining guardian gods, the goddess of the stars, and Aria join forces to bring Karis back to life and restore peace in the heavenly world. In that scene a big Korean painting is being painted on the white canvas draped above the stage.

It appears as if the painting is being completed by computer graphics. But, amazingly the painting is the work of a painter who actually draws the four representative plants of Korean painting by hand in the backstage. Here’s the show’s producer Kwon Eun-jeong to explain more.

This is the scene in which the three loyal gods of Karis grows the plant of immortality to resurrect Karis. Their positive energy restores the balance of ying and yang at Karis’s funeral, represented by the pattern of taegeuk. That goes on the first panel. The remaining four panels are the canvasses for the four representative plants of the East – the plum, the orchid, the chrysanthemum, and the bamboo. These plants are drawn on the white cloth screens, which each measures 3 meters by 1.5 meters. So, there are five panels for an artist to draw on. During the show, the artist uses various colors to draw the four plants. You may see this as a beautiful display of color, but in the backstage it’s a total mess. The plants are drawn in every performance and we keep the panels for the Guinness world record.

I was impressed with the paintings. It came on so suddenly, like magic. The fact that the four plants were drawn in five primary colors made the show more Korea. The white point against the red backdrop was particularly impressive.

While the Korean painting graces the backdrop, the stage is buzzing with the electric energy of Asura and the three guardian gods. The Korean dancers and martial artists in this scene perform a pole and nunchuck dance number that combines traditional dance and martial arts.

“Karma” combines dance and martial arts in perfect harmony. Here’s actor Lee Sang-woo playing the blue dragon.


Other nonverbal performances are usually comedy or percussion plays. But this play is very Korean, compelling even foreigners to admire the beauty of Korean culture, dance, and martial arts. I’m proud to be a part of this show. The combination of dance and martial arts is very exciting. It’s physically demanding, but I completely into it, because I can feel the explosive energy of music and physical movement.

The audience is mesmerized by the rhythmical precision movements of the dancers.

The group dance with fans and poles was really impressive. I’ve seen fan dance many times, but this time it was new, because the fans were used as weapons. Also, the group pole dance and the nunchuck dance was more than just dancing.

The positive energy is concentrated to create a sword that can destroy the red enchanted fruit. Now it’s time for the good gods to face Asura.

Asura is shown as a shadow while the three guardian gods actually appear on stage. It seems the three guardian gods are fighting against a shadow, but the intensity of the scene is just as captivating as a real battle scene. At last, the red fruit is destroyed and the goddess of the moon forgives the black tortoise for growing greedy. The ugly mask of the black tortoise is removed, Karis is resurrected, and peace and order in heaven is restored.

Flower petals fall on the stage against the performance of the Korean flute. The actors and the audience become one as the dance of unity is performed on stage. Here’s the show’s producer Kwon Eun-jeong again.

Karma is the Indian word for fate, destiny. Our show’s moral is that good always triumphs over evil. When a person does good, that person is rewarded, and when a person does evil, he or she is punished. The purpose of this show was to publicize Korean culture to the world. Many foreigners who saw our show were amazed. They stayed long after the show ended to admire the Korean painting. Some even asked us for the painting.

“Karma” integrated a Korean tale and fantastical elements to create a very Korean nonverbal fantasy musical that will remain in people’s hearts for a long time.