The 2015 K-Performance Supporters' Dinner, Dance And Dessert!

This is what I like about the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). They know how to show their appreciation for the efforts of the bloggers, specifically those who help promote musicals, non-verbal performances and other shows in Seoul. I have been a member of this group of bloggers, the K-Performance Supporters, for a few years now, and all this time being a member, I have always enjoyed the events as well as the performances (well, most of it anyway) that I watched and wrote about. 

And speaking of bloggers, I am also a member of the Global Seoul-Mates group run by the Seoul Tourism Organization (STO), and I couldn't help but notice the glaring difference between the two tourism organizations.

I think the people running the STO can learn a lot from the KTO team. STO's programs are un-creative and lacking objectives. I have a feeling STO people are also lazy; I could not even get a decent email reply from them, and they could not even be bothered to send me the prizes they promised. And that was almost a year ago. Oh, well. Some bureaucratic mentality must have gotten into the minds of the people working at the STO, and I hope they're reading this. Ha-ha-ha!

                         (Making my own patpingsu!)

                           (My favorite shot of the night!)

The KTO teams, on the other hand, are very active and know what they are doing. And last week, to welcome the 2015 K-Performance Supporters, the KTO feted everyone to a buffet dinner at VIPS restaurant in the Jongno District in Seoul! Yes, it was a buffet!

In 2014, the 3rd K-Performance Supporters group were also welcomed at the same restaurant and had a fun time watching the Ka-Boom performance. This year, however, the bloggers watched another show, Sachoom!

I saw Sachoom about two years ago when it was still being performed at the Nakwon-dong Arcade near Insadong. This time, they're performing at the Cine Core Building in the Jongno District in Seoul. It's the same building as the show, JUMP.

             (In most performance, there's always the 
                  required audience participation section)

Sachoom is an 85-minute dance musical with about 12 dancers making up the ensemble, who engages the audience with a few genres of dance: modern jazz, bboy, tango, and a few dance steps you'd see from Dancing 9 and some K-pop performances. In between, there was mime, a slapstick comedy sketch, and of course, the required audience participation section.

                         (I was relieved she could sing.)

Although the showmanship is there, the show could do some help in the costume section and choreography. All the lead dancer/actor did was stretch his arms wide, do handstands and flash a smile. And while his female counterpart could sing a few bars, I have a feeling she wasn't exactly hired for her dancing. 

Sachoom didn't give me an obvious reason why it should be watched. It was just a few dance numbers put together with a few comedic antics squeezed in between to tickle the audience. Nothing more. But luckily for the audience, we were allowed to take pictures (without flash) during the show, and it kept me busy. Yes, all night long. Ha-ha-ha! I even featured one photo that I liked in a separate blog.

But thanks to the Korea Tourism Organization for the dinner treat that night. I truly enjoyed making my own patpingsu!  Other than the dancing, I hope my fellow 2015 K-Performance Supporters also enjoyed the dinner and dessert! 

Until the next event!

"My Dear Love, Chunyhang": A Unique Korean Ballet At Seongam Art Center

The last time I saw a ballet performance in Seoul was at Sejong Arts Center, where the very popular Swan Lake was performed by the visiting Kirov Ballet based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

But today, although the ballet was based on a very popular Korean love story and performed by local Korean talents, the performance still has some Russian connection. How? The resident ballet company of the Seongam Arts Hall is the GITIS-Korea Ballet Academy, much like the Kirov Ballet being the resident ballet company of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, and GITIS is the Russian University of Theater Arts based in Moscow, Russia.

Filling up the 201-seat theater on the 3rd floor of the Seongam Art Center in Nonhyeon 2-dong in the Gangnam District, the crowd, made up of proud fans, friends, family members of the performers, and K-Performance Supporters of the Korea Tourism Organization, was treated to a ballet performance of the love story, "My Dear Love, Chunhyang". 

Chunhyangjeon was originally a pansori, the Korean art of musical storytelling performed by a vocalist accompanied by a drummer, and this love story has been told through dramas, movies, and on this occasion, through ballet. The love story is about the two lovers, Chunhyang, who's beautiful and is exceptional in the arts and poetry, and Mongryong, who is handsome and intelligent. Although in the end, they lived happily ever after, you have to watch the ballet to find out what happened in between.  Even if you are familiar with this popular love story, it would be a unique experience understanding the story in a different art form.

And perhaps to lend more Korean tradition to the ballet, a very good pansori performer, accompanied by a drummer, sang the story to introduce the episodes of the performance. Although the art form is western, the pansori and the Korean love story made the whole performance a unique experience for everyone. On top of that, the colorful costumes worn by the dancers were designed and tailored to adapt to ballet. If you want to see colorful hanboks and Korean traditional costumes dazzle during fouettes, pirouettes, entrechats, or arabesques, you should watch this ballet. 

"My Dear Love, Chunhyang" was choreographed by the ballet academy's artistic director, Miss Young Moon, who's a professor at the College of Arts at Kookmin University. Miss Moon's family actually owned the Seongam Art Center, which was founded by their father. She told me ballet runs in their family; her older sister, Miss Geum-Ja Park, used to dance in Russia. 

And even though some of the ballet dancers were just students, you can already tell that these young dancers are very good at their craft. And as it was just a small theater, there was almost no separation between audience and the downstage, and those interactions between the floor and the dancers' pointe shoes were clearly audible, enabling the crowd feel extra intimate with the performers and their performance. As she was just a few feet away, the crowd would have just rushed onstage to help free the suffering Chunghyang when she was imprisoned by the new village lord. :-)

I highly recommend you watch this unique Korean ballet, especially if you like to enjoy unique experiences here in Seoul. The performance is just about an hour long and annotations in English are flashed on stage to enable you to understand the whole story if you're not familiar with this tale.

Also, watch out for the surprise dance-off after the ballet. You can actually join the fun on stage if you want to.

                           (The ballet goes...Gangnam Style!)

"My Dear Love, Chunhyang" is performed every Friday at 5PM. To get to the Seongam Art Center, get off at Exit 1 of the Seonjeongneung Station of the Bundang Line. 

(The lady with the hat is the ballet academy's 

Chief Director, Miss Geum-Ja Park, posing in front 

of her photo during her dancing days in Russia; 

the lady in black is the choreographer, Miss Young Moon)

Do click this Seongam Art Center's >> website << for details about this ballet and other performances.   

        

If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words: "The Painters: Hero"

                   (My The Painters: Hero ticket courtesy of 
                         the Korea Tourism Organization)

According to the band Bread, a picture should paint a thousand words. But at 'The Painters: Hero' show, a picture paints, not just a thousand words, but also applause, laughter, oohs and aahs.

This show is a performance art, literally. Four guys creating works of art on the stage with all the audience members watching and sometimes participating.

On the first few minutes of the show, I thought that perhaps my friends who have attended painting classes would be able to appreciate this performance more than I would. After all, I didn't actually excel at drawing when I was in grade school. I'd rather write or sing than draw. 😂

I have watched a lot of performances in Seoul over the years; from non-verbal performances, to musicales to Korean traditional music, gugak, opera, and ballet. But this one was a novelty: a show that lets the audience share the experience of the artists on stage in bringing works of art to life, and with dancing and funny antics at that!

               (At the end of the show, the audience can 
                      take photos of the actors on stage)

That night, courtesy of the K-Performance Supporters team of the Korea Tourism Organization, I joined an audience consisting mostly of Chinese tourists and a few locals, and heard for myself that the loudest laughter in the crowd was not from the adults, but from the kids! Yes, this show is not only for the grownups, but I think with all the slapstick and the digital spectacle onstage, the kids enjoyed it more!

The show featured popular figures in the sketches and drawings so that the audience would immediately recognize them. I would have wanted to enumerate the popular profiles they featured on the show on this blog, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for you. You'd know who or what they are when you see the completed work on stage.

               (The audience taking photos of the 

                       stage after the show)

There's charcoal, paint on water, oil, and other media they use to create these interesting art pieces on stage. With music and background digital images on stage, the whole experience makes it especially unique. And there are also sections for audience participation. If you're picked, the actors will turn you into an artist on stage.

A very impressive part of the show was the drawing of the three warriors in charcoal on three separate boards with an ending completed by a digital fortress flashed on stage. Those were really imposing drawings. I wonder what they do with those drawings after the show?

But my favorite was the mesmerizing sketch of stars with the sea and a boat. Was it sand art? The unique experience of this section was that the whole theater was dimmed and what everyone saw on stage was the glowing canvas on which two performers created the whole scenery with green flash lights. And the best part? This number was performed to Paloma Faith's charming song, Stargazer. I guess, since the work of art was about stars, the director decided to have the song Stargazer, and I think from now on, every time I hear this song, I would remember this show.

"The Painters: Hero" actually have five teams named after Chaplin, Jackson, Superman, Beethoven and Picasso. These teams take turns in performing the 80-minute show.

              (The Picasso Team at the autograph session)

That night, it was the new Picasso team that performed. I spoke with the actors after their performance and told them it was my first time to watch them and I was impressed. 

So, if you also want to be impressed with these artists on stage who could dance, do mime and slapstick on stage while creating works of art, do visit their website below and set a date to watch it:

http://thepainters.co.kr/

The venue is the Seoul Theater, which is accessible from Exit 14 of Jongno 3-ga Station, and is actually a good stroll from Insadong. The ticket box is on the first floor, but the performance venue is on the 5th floor. You need to take the escalator all the way up. There are staff members who will direct you to the venue.

After the performance, you can actually walk down (opposite direction from Jongno 3-ga Station) to the Cheonggye Stream, which is just a couple of minutes by foot from the venue.

#performanceart #painting #artists #painterhero #Kdrama #Koreandrama #picasso #palomafaith #stargazer

Jeongdong Theater's MISO Baebijang-jeon

On my way to the Jeongdong Theater behind the Deoksugung (Deoksu Palace), I chanced upon the Changing of the Guards ceremony, which is a colorful mini-parade of Korean soldiers in their traditional costumes. I passed by a donut shop to get a drink near the area before I headed to the venue.

                                   (My MISO ticket courtesy of the 
                         Korea Tourism Organization)

The colorful ceremony was actually a prelude to what I was about to watch at the Jeongdong Theater. The soldiers were in their colorful traditional costumes, and so were the actors in the show.  

MISO is a 70-minute, non-verbal performance telling the story of a government secretary named Bae Geol-deok-swe during the Choseon Dynasty. He was reputed to be faithful and loyal to his wife, and was sent to a post in Jeju Island, only to give in to the seduction of Ae-rang, the prettiest woman on the island, who also happened to be....married. 

                (The changing of the king's bodyguards ceremony)

             (He'll represent the Choseon Dynasty in archery 
                         at the 2014 Asian Games)

In short, MISO is a story of a government official who had extra-marital affairs (very common nowadays!), with his journey (to Jeju) and seduction (by Ae-rang) set into traditional music and dancing. Since the costumes were all traditional and the accompanying music was played using Korean traditional instruments, the early minutes of the show reminded me of the impressive performance I saw at the National Theater of Korea a year ago. 

                                                         (Jeongdong Theater)

For international tourists, watching MISO is a way to experience a non-verbal Korean performance showcasing colorful Korean hanboks and dance. 

I also appreciate the English, Chinese and Japanese translations on the screens on both sides of the stage, enabling non-Korean speaking audience to understand the story. Since it was a holiday, the audience not only included international tourists and foreigners, but also locals.

       (Screens with translation on both sides of the stage)

Though the choreography of the dances was simple (no acrobatics and leg-breaking splits here), the dancers and the props used were able to give life to the whole MISO story, although I would have wanted the main actor to have given more facial expressions. The only thing I could remember from his face was his overuse of BB cream.

It was actually Ae-rang, the seductress, and the courtesans who dazzled on stage. The dancer portraying Ae-rang was pretty as she should be, but so were the courtesans (although I could clearly see some chin implants from where I was seated). With their beautiful and colorful hanboks, intricate head-dress and their graceful dancing, these female actors were the ones who carried the show.

             (The cast dancing with some audience members 
                                      after the show)

After the show, the cast and the audience danced and posed for photographs at Jeongdong Theater's main entrance. I think this is the only performance where I saw the ensemble danced, not just mingle and posed for photos, with the audience. This was a very good way for the audience to remember the show, and a better way to even promote it. I wasn't in the mood to dance that afternoon. Ha-ha-ha!

So, if you want to see Ae-rang's dance of seduction, or want to get a glimpse of Jeju Island (watch out for the artistic Mt. Halla backdrop on the stage), or even how Secretary Bae threw up on a boat on his way to Jeju Island, you should drop by Jeongdong Theater for this show.

Jeongdong Theater is accessible from Exit 1 or Exit 12 of the City Hall Station.

Here's a link to the performance details:

http://www.jeongdong.or.kr/eng/index.do