Korean rhythms invigorate the senses

South Korea may be known as “the land of morning calm,” but it came off as the country of exuberant drumming Friday night at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. In a program called “Madang Nori (Playing Outdoors),” two troupes blitzed the stage with an awesome display of traditional Korean dance and music. But things hardly seemed traditional as the Seoul-based percussion group SamulNori and Los Angeles-based Kim Eung Hwa Korean Dance Academy joined forces for the first time to rock the house in two hours of razzle-dazzle and splashy, neo-trance-like spirituality.

The seven-member SamulNori, under the artistic direction of Kim Duk Soo, sparked a global renaissance in Korean traditional music when it first put hand to skins in 1978. With wrists quicker than the eye and metronomic precision, they vamped on gongs and drums for 40 minutes in “Samdo Nongak Garak.”

Creating an astonishing array of polyrhythms that resembled a herd of thundering horses one moment and a collective thrum of enlightenment the next, the drummers were also adept movers. “Pan Kut” featured the men wearing hats topped with long streamers that made swirling patterns as they, incredibly, not only continued drumming but executed a series of barrel turns and break-dancing moves.

More orthodox work was offered by Kim Eung Hwa’s 24-year-old company. “Tae Pyung Sung Dae” included a sweet, flower dance in which porcelain-faced maidens pattered delicately across the stage bearing paper blossoms, creating a swirl of textures with their whirling unisons. A subsequent opus showcased a bevy of women brandishing feathered fans in birthday-cake pink.

The feather motif continued in “Crane” as a quartet of women in quilled, black and white bird costumes bowed and skittered. Kim Eung Hwa’s elegant solo had her thrashing long, white sleeves with graceful ferocity, her regal bends and dips executed with softness. Her troupe also spotlighted seven women drumming -- while doing backbends -- in a unique display of agility. A night of 1,000 drums, this percussion slam/dance wowed.