The Playground NYC x Baryshnikov Arts
Lead by: Sun Kim 

 

Monday, 04/17 || 10:00AM-12:00PM

Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018

 

The Playground NYC allows dancers to experience various choreographic styles and ideas, engage with a new community of dancers, and gather resourceful information and inspiration from the array of choreographers involved. In turn, established choreographers are paid for their creative investigations, are given free space to explore new movement with professional dancers, and are provided with the opportunity to establish relationships with new dancers and fellow choreographers.  

 

Bio:
Sun Kim is a Korean-born dancer, choreographer, and artistic director known for her innovative and expressive movement language rooted in the street dance style Popping, a form through which she finds strength and freedom to express her voice. She is a recipient of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography (2025), the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award (2022), and was nominated for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer at the Bessie Awards(2022). She was an original cast member of the prologue company in the Broadway production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (2024-2025).

Sun's passion for dance began at the age of twelve and started learning Popping. She quickly fell in love with the art form and knew that she wanted to pursue it professionally. After training for 10 years, she moved to NYC in 2011. Since then, she has achieved many accomplishments, such as winning Step Ya Game Up world final Popping battle, making it to the top 8 at UK B-Boy championship world final as the USA Popping representative, and performing for Cirque Du Soleil. Additionally, Sun Kim has taught at various institutions such as Princeton University, Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center, and Kookmin University in South Korea.

Rather than staying in her comfort zone, she continues to challenge herself in different industries such as commercial jobs for Madonna, Elton John, Phish, Nike, McDonald’s, Golden Goose, and Gap, and also in the theater industry, she presented her own work for Burning Man at Sotheby's, Harlem Stage, Breakin’ Convention, Jacob’s Pillow, and Mark Morris. 

This breadth of experience has allowed her to develop a unique perspective and approach to directing and teaching that has established her own dance company, Sun Kim Dance Theatre (SKDT). SKDT has performed at Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New Victory Theater, NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Symphony Space, the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, Laguardia Performing Arts Center, and the Ladies of Hip Hop Festival, among others.