About Sounds of Korea

Sue Yeon Park received the titles of Yasuda for achieving the highest level of mastery of the Salpuri-Chum (Shaman ritual dance) and Seungmu (Buddhist ritual dance) by the Ministry of Culture of South Korea. In 2004, Sue Yeon Park received the New York State Governor’s Award for Excellence for her contributions to the presentation and preservation of Korean traditional arts. In 2008 Sue Yeon Park was named as a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow. She is the first Korean American artist to receive this honor. Her performing group “Sounds of Korea” has been featured at festivals and in performing centers across the USA.

Songhee Lee is a dancer specializing in Korean traditional dance. Upon graduating from the University of Pusan, Korea, she joined the Pusan Metropolitan Dance Company and became a principal dancer. In 1997, Ms. Lee had her first solo performance in New York City at the Hudson Guild Theater and was reviewed by Jack Anderson from the New York Times.

Since then, Ms. Lee has been actively performing around the world and the U.S. Ms. Lee has performed at the Greek National Dance Theater, Dora Stratou for the UNESCO World Congress on Dance, NEA Montana Folk Festival, International Festival at Chihuahua, Mexico, and the Invited Overseas Artists Performance in Trinidad and Tobago. Currently, Ms. Lee is the Artistic Director and Choreographer for the Songhee Lee Dance Company and member of “Sounds of Korea”.

Hae Sun Jung has been the president of Korean Traditional Dance Studio in New Jersey. She was a professional dancer with Samsung Dance Company in Korea from 1991 to 1994 after she graduated from college in Korea. She performed at the Korea National Theater for the Dance Academy. She was awarded the 1st place Minister Prize at a dance competition for the S’alpuri-Ch’um by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea. She performs extensively and is a member of Sounds of Korea.

Rebecca Hyun-A Lee is a professional Korean traditional dancer. Born in South Korea, she moved to the USA when she was 8 years old. She started dancing when she was 5 years old in Korea and continued to dance throughout her life. Ms. Lee has performed Internally at prestigious venues and has performed for Presidents, Governors, Ambassadors, etc.

She received First Place at the International Folk Competition at the World Bank Special in 2005.

Mihee is a Korean traditional dancer. She graduated from Kyungsung University in Busan, Korea with a BS in Dance. Ms. Kim was awarded a second prize at the 9th dance contest of Keimyung University in 1997, a gold medal at the 2nd dance contest of the Korea Institute of Folk Art in 1997, and the first prize at the 5th National Dance Contest presented by Korea Dance Association (Jeju Seogwipo branch) in 1999.

Jeongsoo Park was born in Busan, South Korea where she finished her BA at Shilla University Specializing in traditional Korean dance and Earned her MA at The Sookmyung Women’s University Graduate School of Traditional Arts.

Hyeji An is a Korean traditional dancer. She started to learn Korean traditional dance at an early age and pursued her undergraduate degree at Shilla University specializing in traditional Korean dance. She learned Buddhist dance, Salpuri-Chum in Yi Mae-Bang style and Taepyungmu in Kang Sunyoung style.