Sung Im Her is a choreographer and performer. Her work focuses on the disciplined transformation of the body. Through remoulding, repetition and fragmentation, she strips movement of sentiment, and explores how physical precision, endurance and a playful manipulation shape our perception of femininity and identity.
Her was born in Seoul (South Korea) and obtained a Master’s diploma in Contemporary Dance from Hansung University. She went on to graduate from P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels in 2004. Her artistic unfurling was achieved in close collaboration with a series of prominent theatre-makers in Belgium, most notably Needcompany.
From 2010, Sung Im Her performed in the work of Grace Ellen Barkey and Jan Lauwers. Along the way, she became part of the company’s artistic ecosystem. This long-term exchange influenced both her own choreographic language, and her strength as a performer. Central to her work are a sharply articulated movement vocabulary, and a flirtation with physical exhaustion and musical structure, which have carved their way into Needcompany’s physical language.
Parallel to this journey, Her developed her own creations internationally. In 2016, she expanded her practise to London. Her work has been recognised by the Korea Arts Council (Emerging Artist of the Year 2019), Aerowaves (2021), the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Dance Artist of the Year 2022), and The Guardian (10 Stage Sensations to Watch Out for, 2023). Currently, she is an Associate Artist of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF). Her performances are presented in Europe, the United States, and South Korea.
Her relationship with Needcompany evolved from performer to artistic initiator. In Where is the Rabbit (2022), she invited Grace Ellen Barkey to perform on stage while she herself took on the role of director — a deliberate inversion of authorship. This ongoing exchange with Needcompany culminates in 2026 in Everything Must Change, created with Maarten Seghers as co-author. The performance brings their autonomous practises together in a shared field of choreography, sound, and song, structured around intensity, effort, and presence: not a meeting between guest artists, but the continuation of a fifteen-year artistic dialogue.
