This Month’s Theme is

Soundtrack of the Year

2025

Soundtrack of the Year • 2025 •

Heartbeat

By Minhee Yeo

When I first met Namoo and Suyoung, I did not know that we were going to form something formidable together. I simply thought it was a fun coincidence to come across two other opinionated, strong-minded Korean women like me — from the same hometown and of a similar age — in the middle of London.

Namoo, with her rich background and experience, and her full commitment and dedication to theatre-making, has moved my heart every time I speak with her.
Suyoung, whose creativity and versatility are veiled by her signature eye makeup and short hair, soon began to challenge my senses every time I saw and heard her.

While we were making work together, I was also making a life. Seven months pregnant, I stepped onto the stage and offered my body to contact improvisation with Suyoung under the direction of Namoo. We were not two on stage. We were three — her heart, my heart, and the steady, insistent rhythm of my baby’s heartbeat.

This year, for the first time, I have expanded my role beyond acting to work creatively alongside my collaborators.

Hand in hand.

Shoulder to shoulder.

Heart to heart.

Sometimes head to head, sometimes butt to butt — pressing, yielding, learning how to make work together.

The heartbeat I heard for the first time —
That has been the driving force of my work.
And it will continue to be.

Muscle Memory

By Namoo Chae Lee

What I learned this year: the value of just doing it.

Not trying to be clever.
Not waiting to feel ready.
Just doing — and leaving the comfort zone.

It doesn’t happen in one dramatic leap.
It happens through small actions, taken one by one, until the leap quietly grows.
Until one day you realise you are standing at the very edge of your own capacity.

That moment came for me at the top of a ladder.

I paused, looked around, and asked for a song.
Me — someone who always thought of herself as having sophisticated taste — asked for an old K-pop track, with almost aggressively plain lyrics.

Mr. Simple.
Don’t be upset because the world isn’t going the way you want.
No need.
Don’t cling too tightly to small things —
Too many worries are bad for your health.
Sometimes you’re doing well.
Sometimes you’re not.
It’s okay to stop for a moment.
Everything has its time.
Look, Mr. Simple.
You’re fine as you are.
You’re already enough.

On that ladder, I wasn’t trying to be impressive.
I was simply doing the task in front of me — creating another muscle memory.

And there were my colleagues, steadying the ladder, playing the music for me.

That, I think, was the real soundtrack of my year.

Soundtrack of the Year

By Suyoung Park

I began dancing seriously at twenty, and for more than two decades, dance has remained my sun.

I exist like a small planet, endlessly circling it, patiently waiting for my turn.

I accept the disappearance of who I was yesterday without hesitation,

while holding onto the hope that my love for dance today will continue.

This is why I chose this song.

태양계 
 - 성시경 

나의 사랑이 멀어지네
나의 어제는 사라지네
태양을 따라 도는
저 별들처럼 난 돌고 돌고 돌고
그대를 향한 나의 이 어리석은
사랑해 사랑해 사랑해

머물지 못 하는 내 두 눈에 고인
눈물이 흐르네

나의 사랑은 떠나갔네
나의 어제는 사라졌네
지구를 따라 도는
저 달 속에 비친 너의 얼굴 얼굴
그 얼굴 위로 흐르던 너의 미소
사랑해 사랑해 사랑해

머물지 못하는 내 두 눈에 고인
눈물이 흐르네

Solar System
- Sung Si Kyung

My love is drifting away,
 my yesterday is disappearing.
 Like the stars that circle the sun,
 I keep turning, turning, turning,
 caught in this foolish devotion
 towards you.
 I love you, I love you, I love you.
In my eyes that can never stay,
 tears gather
 and begin to fall.
My love has already left,
 my yesterday has vanished.
 Like the moon that orbits the earth,
 your face appears, reflected there —
 your face,
 and the smile that once flowed across it.
 I love you, I love you, I love you.
In my eyes that can never stay,
 tears gather
 and begin to fall.
Next
Next

Nov '25