On stage: Kyung Mee Lee and Jin Lee, mother and daughter.
A family, memories, shared pasts, common paths, and the same pain. Neither has ever experienced a mother’s love.
Both have spent their lives searching for that warmth, that feeling of unconditional affection, of being protected and embraced. In “Nami,” mother and daughter come together in a shared desire for change. How can we find the warmth of our mothers that we never experienced? Can we make up for this lack together? 

When Jin Lee’s grandmother was ten years old, the Korean War ended. It left behind millions of dead, a divided, devastated country, and a population whose traumas were kept private and silenced. The grandmother never spoke of her physical and emotional pain, never processed it; she gave birth to her children and later abused her own daughter. The scars of this abuse carved deep marks into Jin Lee’s mother—marks that never fully healed—and inevitably influenced her relationship with her own daughter. Pain begat more pain and was passed down from one generation to the next.
 

Understanding this cycle, uncovering the societal roots of the pain, and bringing the trauma out of the private sphere helped mother and daughter not only to reframe their grandmother’s story but also to reevaluate their own distant relationship. In “Nami,” both share their search for healing, for forgiveness, for listening, and for understanding. In an era of dwindling social solidarity and growing global isolation, they explore cohesion, empathy, and the significance of small gestures of kindness.

 “Nami” is funded by the
Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München and by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
With the kind support of Tanztendenz München e.V., Schwere Reiter, Tanzbüro München, T29 studio, and the Rat & Tat Kulturbüro.
 

Credits

Artistic Direction, Choreography: ZINADA (Jin Lee & Jihun Choi)

Dance, Performance: Jin Lee, Kyung Mee Lee

Dramaturgy: Nitsan Margaliot

Lighting Design: Ramona Lehnert

Costume Design: Carla Renée Loose

Composition/Music: Benny Omerzell, Shin Hye Jung

Artistic Production: Laura Manz

Filmography & Video documentation: Alpay Akcan, Mikael Champs

Introduction: Susanne E. Schneider

Press/Public Relations: Simone Lutz

Photography: Christina Gerg

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