Echo of South and North traditional Music and dance’ mesmerized Delhi audience at DIAF opening ceremony.
1st December 2018, New Delhi: 12th Delhi International Arts Festival witnessed gala performance of ‘echo of South and North traditional Music and dance’ by South Korean artists in its opening ceremony at Purana Quila. It was the first time in India that South and North Korean dance performances were presented on the same stage. This performance was special in its way as it gave a strong message of unity and peace to the world. The leading performer, Ms Choe Shin-ah, is a North Korean defector who was dance director in North Korea, and now she is a South Korean national and is leading a dance troupe in South Korea. She has been performing from last 26 years and founded her own troupe in 2015 in South Korea.
900 artists are performing from 19 countries at 20 venues.
Director of Korean Culture Center India, Kim Kum Pyoung said “Inter-Korean peace process has got international interest and highlights this year. We would like to lead the interests to South and North Koreas’ cultures and arts with similarities and distinctive characteristics, which will be presented on the stage of Delhi International Arts Festival on 1st and 2nd December.
After Korea got divided into north and south respectively, dance style also has been changed as the time passed. Both the south and the north dance have their own characteristics which the performing group performed on one single stage. The stage performance published the beauty and the excellency of Korean culture. The team comprised of S. Korean dance, N. Korean dance and Korean traditional music.There group prepared over all 12 performances. The opening day witnessed four performances which included dance and songs.
The first performance was ‘Tri-colored fan dance’. In this using 2-metre-long fan a splendid and dynamic dance was displayed which amazed the audience.Second performance was Teapyung dance.
3rd dance Love song from Chunhyang story – The third performance is known as Pansori. Pansori is the representative style of music where the two people involved namely the ‘gosu’ who leads the rhythm and sets the melody and a ‘sorykkun’ singer who shares descriptive stories have a musical conversation with each other by weaving the two aspects into one.
4th performance was Seosonal dance.
Another performance was ‘Jeanggang dance, it is the representative dance of North Korea. In this dance performers wore steel bracelets and danced to the rhythm of merry tunes.The performers also presented ‘Chukwon dance’. This extravagant style is danced during happy occasions, and when foreign envoys visit.There was also ‘Jindo drum dance’ It is the representative dance of South Korea in which the performer dances while thrashing the sticks with both hands.
The other performances included Janggo solo dance, Cutting gourd from Heungbu song, Longing Gangnam, Teapyung dance, Nangamhanae, Beautiful country and Seosonal dance.Apart from Korean performances the evening also witnessed the mesmerizing performances of flow of beats by Indian artist Akran Khan, China Drum opera, Traditional Folk dance by Sri lanka and many more performances.
