Suicide is one of the most critical social issues in the world. People get pressures and stresses for many reasons such as society, family and even themselves.

“넋(NEOK) : SOUL” is about suffering the mental anguish caused by life and death, living and committing. Moreover, the film describes how to overcome the struggles through a modernised interpretation of the traditional Korean concept, ‘넋두리 (Neokduri)’.

​

‘넋 (Neok)’ means ‘soul’, and ‘넋두리 (Neokduri)’ is a word to solve the grudge of life on behalf of a dead soul. In modern times, it has become increasingly used to mean ‘grumbling’ in daily life to resolve the social pressures and problems.

With this concept, the dancer expresses the process of dealing with social pressure and stress, which means the inner conflict between suicide and life. In the film, two different clothes, Hanbok (Traditional Korean Clothes) and Suits (Modern clothes) symbolise the dancer’s soul and body, as well as, embody past and present, death and life.