One of the highlights of our stay in Seoul was attending a
performance of traditional music and dance at Korea House. This facility is a traditionally-built
structure with an intimate theater. Twenty very talented performers present a
program of music and dance here, of the sort that might have been seen at the
marvelous Changdokgung Palace during the nineteenth or twentieth century.
The hour-long performance at Korea House included eight, exceptionally
well-rehearsed and beautifully staged pieces, drawn from both courtly and peasant
traditions.
Outstanding instrumentalists (including percussionists, string, and woodwind players), a truly great female vocalist, and 6-12 dancers, all fabulously costumed, filled the main stage and two platforms flanking and extending it.
The Fan Dance, a tribute to the peony flower, was perhaps our favorite piece, although we also especially liked the male
dancers/percussionists who wrapped up the show. It was surprising to see an
energy and rhythmic complexity that was African in its power and subtlety.
These dancers worked over, under, and around long streamers that they spun from
anchors fixed to the tops of their heads. One of those ribbons shot thirty feet
into the audience when it was introduced!
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