Summer in Sinchon: Dancing, Singing and Sliding

It's been a season or two since I dropped by the Sinchon area. I got acquainted with this neighborhood during my early years in Seoul when tennis friends brought me to Sinchon for lunch after playing at the tennis courts of Sogang University, a Jesuit-run university that was visited by Pope Francis last year. 

This area around the Sinchon Station of Line 2 is popular to students since this is near some universities like Yonsei, Ewha Womans, Sogang, and Hong-ik. And this weekend, the Seodaemun District has set up a water slide right in the middle of the Yonsei-ro (Yonsei Street), which they closed down to make way for fun and performances.

The idea was to provide respite from this summer heat, and this water slide, which stretched from the first Starbucks across Nike Court until the second Starbucks in the neighborhood, was filled with kids and adults in swimwear, sunblock and inflatables, who all happily found a way to cool down, right in the middle of the street!

And while those having fun on the slide were busy soaking, those on 'dry land' were entertained by selected Korean non-verbal and musical performances, namely, The Painters: Hero, Fanta-Stick, Sa-Choom, and Nanta, which I have all seen before courtesy of my complimentary tickets from the Korea Tourism Organization.

The Painters: Hero
Last year, I recommended to my friend Vanji to bring her kids to watch The Painters: Hero because I was sure Ethan and Patrick would enjoy it. And they did! Today, those watching a segment performance of this show enjoyed as well. Here's a short clip. Today's performance was just a teaser where they featured their 'Michael Jackson' painting. During their regular performances, they have charcoal, painter on water, oil and other media that they use to create these interesting art pieces on stage. With music and digital images as background on stage, the whole experience of watching this type of performance is unique. If you happen to watch this show, try to volunteer up the stage. It should be worth your while.

Fanta-Stick
The musicians and drummers of Fanta-Stick also took turns in drumming up excitement among the crowd. This performance is promoted as a live 'gugak' musical. 'Gugak' means traditional Korean music, but if you watch the performance, you'd also hear recorded contemporary and modern music. It's a story about a man and a woman banished from the heavens for not having been able to take care of a sacred drum and flute, with the latter ending up lost and later found in a car repair shop somewhere in Seoul. This show is a mix of traditional music, dancing and slapstick comedy. It was actually fun taking photographs today of Fanta-Stick performers; the showmanship was there, and so was the synchronized movements and energy.

Sa-Choom
I have watched Sa-Choom early this year, and their short performance today was just a segment of their 85-minute dance musical with about 12 dancers. Right in the middle of Sinchon, they wowed the crowd especially with the bboy stunts and a mix of modern jazz, tango, and perhaps a few steps from Dancing 9 and some k-pop girl bands. Sa-Choom's theater is at Jongno, below the VIPS buffet restaurant, where you can always grab dinner before you go down to watch it. The show is mixed with some mime, slapstick comedy sketch and the required audience participation. Today, the performers went down from the stage and tried to engage the crowd on dry land. Luckily, they left the kids alone who were on the pool with their inflatables. 

Nanta
And as the last to perform, the cooks of Nanta with all their vegetable-chopping in their kitchen reminded everyone that it was probably time for dinner. Ha-ha-ha!  Anyone who's into cooking would be able to relate to Nanta because everything in the kitchen comes to life with all these cooks: the pans, the utensils, the vegetables, seasonings and those very sharp knives!  Nanta's venues are actually in Myeongdong and at Chungjeongno Station.  If you're staying at Myeongdong, it's the most convenient venue for you; although the performances at Chungjeongno Station usually have Rush Ticket discounts. Nanta is probably the most popular of all the Korean performances with everyone I know wanting to see this show in Seoul.

And as for those standing in line for their turn, I wondered how long it actually took for one to wait until its time to swoosh down the slide with the help of an inflatable, running water, and gravity. But no matter how long the wait was, from the looks on their faces, it was worth the wait and the entrance fee.

The 2014 Seoul Performing Arts Festival!

Since my week started with a performance at The Painters: Hero last Monday (courtesy of the Korea Tourism Organization), and continued today with a Korean ballet performance in the Gangnam District (also courtesy of KTO), and may end with a JYJ k-pop concert at around COEX this Sunday (courtesy of the Gangnam District Office), I might as well blog about the ongoing festival of performances.

After the month-long Korea In Motion campaign of the Korea Tourism Organization ends on Sunday, both locals and foreigners can still enjoy unique performances at the 2014 Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF).

The Festival actually started last September 25, and will end on October 19. It's an annual festival of artists from seven countries, namely, Korea, Germany, Russia, Belgium, UK, Austria and Colombia. There are 21 performances produced by 19 theater companies.

These performance are mainly held at ARKO Arts Theater and Daehakro Arts Theater, which I think are in the Daehang-no area in Hyewha-dong, which is accessible from Exit 2 of the Hyewha Station (Line 4).

I'm not sure if I'd be able to venture into the Hyewha-dong area for this, although I always rush to that side of the city for some banana-cues. But in case you're able to, the Festival has an official website in Korean and English, which has a detailed list of performances, schedules, venues and ticket prices:

 http://spaf.or.kr/2014english/index_ing.php

It also has a Facebook page, but it's mainly in Korean:

https://www.facebook.com/SPAFinSeoul

Enjoy!

The 2014 Korea In Motion Showcase At Myeongdong!

To keep the beat going, the 2014 Korea In Motion (KOINMO) festival holds a regular showcase performance in front of the Myeongdong Theater right in the middle of Seoul's shopping centrale.

This showcase performance features shows included in the KOINMO campaign. These performances are usually held twice a day at 1PM and 3PM.

During the holidays, I was able to pass by the Myeongdong area twice. The first time was when I headed to the Bukchon Village to visit a friend, and the second time was when I headed to the City Hall area to watch the MISO performance at Jeongdong Theater.

The two performances featured were the non-verbal show Fanta-Stick, and a musicale called Hwarang.

The crowd watching the KOINMO showcase was a mix of locals and international tourists who were there to shop and spend their day in Myeongdong. Fortunately, the KOINMO organizers followed my suggestion to also invite the crowd to watch the Korean performances in languages other than Korean; a KOINMO staff invited the crowd in Korean, English and Chinese.

So, if you're planning to watch these shows, you can see excerpts of the performances at the KOINMO showcase stage right in the middle of Myeongdong. 

Here's the link to the KOINMO website:

http://www.kperformance.org/Index.asp

The 2014 Korea In Motion Festival Is On!

The Korea In Motion kicks off again in Seoul!

Since 2012, the Korea Tourism Organization launches every September a campaign called Korea In Motion, KOINMO in short, to promote non-verbal performances, musicals, plays and concerts in Korea.

For three years now, these non-verbal performance and musicals in Seoul have been spotlighted by the KOINMO campaign, increasing the attendance to these shows by providing discounted tickets and attractive packages to locals and international tourists during the KOINMO period. This lets everyone enjoy these performances included in the campaign at a more affordable price.

In 2014, KOINMO period starts on September 3 and ends on October 5. On these dates, you can either visit the KOINMO booths at six (6) locations around Seoul, including Myeong-dong and the Korea Tourism Organization headquarters near the Cheonggye Stream.

Also, a caricature artist can sketch you and your friend for free if you buy your tickets from the KOINMO booth. The artist is available at a specific KOINMO booth on selected dates though.

And if you're around Myeong-dong these days, the KOINMO Showcase features numbers from selected shows performed by the actual actors and performers on an open-air stage right in the middle of Seoul's shopping centrale. These showcases are performed at 11AM and 1PM.

                    (The KOINMO team at the T2 booth at 
                           KTO will help you get your tickets!)


Here's a link to the KOINMO website:

http://www.kperformance.org/Index.asp

Although I already have my free performance tickets courtesy of the Korea Tourism Organization, I hope to see you at the performance venues just the same. 

And perhaps at KOINMO's opening ceremonies, too?

                (My performance tickets courtesy of KTO; 
   apples and chocolate-coated dried mangoes not included)

Daehangno's Korean Musicale HWARANG 뮤지컬 화랑

At the 2013 Korea In Motion (KOINMO) opening ceremonies at the Cheonggyecheon, the actors of this musicale (and the rain) stole the show. They easily won the audience full of locals and foreigners while performing some songs from their musicale.

                                           (Hwarang's Super Team)

                                (Hwarang's Star Team)

I'm talking about the Korean musicale, HWARANG, 뮤지컬 화랑 whose story is set during the Shilla Dynasty, but is set to a K-pop style with some catchy melodies and dancing. I discovered this musicale last year when it was showcased at the 2012 Korean In Motion opening ceremonies. I was very impressed with the singing voices of the actors that night, and they were definitely better than most of the manufactured K-pop bands you see on TV. Since then, I have encouraged friends and colleagues to watch it, and they totally enjoyed it.

The 2013 season's run of HWARANG presents a new cast of actors, which still includes some faces and voices I recognize from last season, namely, Kim Su-Min, Kim Tae-Min and Lee Yeong-Wook. (These three veterans have really good voices.) 

And with the free tickets from KOINMO, I was able to visit their new theater venue in Daehang-no, although finding the new venue was a bit tricky, actually. So, I took photos of the route (from Exit 2 of Hyewha Station) for those who are going to watch this musicale.

During the show, it was easy to tell why most audience members were female, and why most of them were very giggly during the show. So, I deliberately took a seat at the back to observe the whole audience,and even noticed one girl dabbing her eyes during a sad moment of the almost two-hour performance.Taking photographs or videos is prohibited during the show, but during the curtain call, this was allowed.  

And here's a video I took during Super Team's curtain call. Notice the very excited female audience member sitting before me. Her jumping up and down her seat says it all! >>CLICK THIS. 

With this follow-the-photos route from the Exit 2 of Hyewha Station (Line 4) to Ye-Sool Ma-dang building, finding it would be easy:

• Just walk for about a hundred meters from Exit 2, 
• turn right after the school, and 
• follow the winding road until you see the building with huge tarpaulins of the show. 
• A lazy walk from Exit 2 would take about five minutes. 

                                            (Hyewha Station's Exit 2)

                                (Turn left here and follow the road)

                                                              (The building)

                                 (Ticket counters inside)

The ticket counters are on the ground floor and there's a coffee shop opposite it. The musicale is staged on the 3rd floor theater.

                                                       (Third floor lobby)

                     (You can take the stairs or the elevator going up)

Here are the links to their Facebook page: HWARANG FB

And here's their Korean website: MUSICALE HWARANG
Their Korean website contains information on the ticket prices and schedule. As of this writing, their schedule is:

Tuesdays - Fridays:  8PM
Saturdays: 3PM and 7PM
Sundays: 3PM 
Mondays: No performance

You can also call this number for inquiries: (02)4686-443

Enjoy the show!