Gyeonghoeru Yeonhyang Traditional Music & Dance Festival

Korea doesn't come with anything less than adventures and unique experiences. This evening my friend Sarah and I met up for dinner at an Italian restaurant located near our entertainment for the evening. The food was delicious! I had three kinds of pasta with broccoli and mushrooms in a light cream sauce. As we were finishing up, Liberty, my Korean co-teacher, came to join us and walk over to the palace with us. On the way, we met Liberty's friend Sophie.

This was a lovely part of the palace we saw on the way to the stage.

We didn't end up sitting together since Sarah and I had booked our tickets together a week beforehand, but we did get to spend time with them before and after.

The performance was incredible! It was a traditional music and dance festival at the biggest palace in Seoul: Gyeonbukgong. Everything was so beautiful and well-choreographed. Since the part of the palace where the performance was held overlooked a lake, one musical number was done on a little islet overlooking the lake (one man played a bamboo flute and another a mouth organ while two men dressed as cranes flew around) and another was performed from a small boat that journeyed across the lake (a woman sang and playfully criticized her accompanist). My favorite number, surprisingly, was one called "Dance with Five Drums." Fifteen women lined the stage, and each of them had five ancient drums to play. They were standing drums--two stacked on top of each other on either side of them, and one larger one stood behind them. The women were in the middle of these and were twirling all around, playing backwards, playing while spinning around . . . These women were strong and healthy! While they were playing, two men played larger drums on either end of them. Everything was done in perfect harmony. That number lasted at least fifteen minutes, so I can only imagine how tired the performers were afterwards! Here is a link to a video that can give you a better idea of what it was like. Still, this performance was way better! :) Another part of the performance was a processional for the king and queen who sat at the top of the building throughout the performance.

Even for the curtain call, they had a special encore performance.

After it was over, Sarah and I waited around for the crowd to diminish, and we went down to the front to take pictures. It was then that Liberty and Sophie rejoined us, and we took pictures together. Then, out of nowhere, two men with a videocamera and microphone came over and asked us (through Liberty) if they could interview us for their promotions. We agreed. Sarah said something so wonderful and thoughtful that I dreaded following her lead. haha. But I said something a little different and then he asked us our names and where we were from. We ended up saying "The USA" simultaneously and then chuckling at ourselves for doing so directly afterwards. We ended up laughing at ourselves the whole way out of the palace because we were so touristy. "All we needed was some blonde hair and baseball caps" to look like genuine American tourists, we thought.

An awesome group!

Ah, a great evening! That's one benefit to living in such a large city: there are many opportunities for good clean fun and adventure. :)