Busan is good

Spring festivals offer various cultural experiences

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While the yellow dust season is finally subsiding, a number of outdoor events are set for May. Offering a wide selection of cultural activities for the local community, many festivals are to be held in different regions of the country.

 

Perhaps the biggest and most anticipated, the Busan International Performing Arts Festival will be held at nine separate venues around the southern port city. Titled "Revolt or Recreation," the Busan festival tries to reinterpret masterpieces of theatrical plays to highlight the everlasting value and power of each work. Seven productions, remakes or parodies of the world's classic pieces are expected to add modern twists to the originals, and to make audiences discover their true meaning.

 

For the opening stage, Theater Mokhwa of Korea presents "Romeo and Juliet," a Korean adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece, May 5-6 at the Busan Cultural Center. Dressed in hanbok or traditional Korean costume, actors deliver the message of the classic piece perhaps in Korean style. Produced by Oh Tae-suk, director of the Korea National Drama Theater, the drama has been staged in Japan and Britain. "Indang's Blues," a romantic musical combining 'Chun-hyang' and 'Sim-cheong,' two traditional Korean folk tales, also visit Busan fans during the festival. Blending the old with the new, the musical makes traditional performing arts accessible for both a new generation of Koreans and non-native Korean speakers. A traditional Korean orchestra with stringed instruments, bamboo pipes, flutes and hourglass drums provides much of the accompaniment, giving the production an authentic Joseon Dynasty feel. But the true musical highlight occurs when "Indang's Blues" bursts out into pop, with Chun-hyang and Mong-nyong trading pensive, determined ballads and duets.

 

Foreign productions to be staged at the festival include "Hamlet" by Tiny Ninja Theater from the United States, and "Mr Carmen" by the AKHE Engineering Theater from Russia.

 

The Busan festival also invites Peter Petralia, producer of theater Proto-Type, and Seleznev Vladimir Proxorovich, Russian actor-turned-professor, to give local producers and performers chances to exchange ideas on new stage methods.

 

Tickets are 15,000 won to 30,000 won. Call (051) 627-2735 or visit www.bipaf.com for more information.

 

Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, is holding an international arts festival with artists from across the globe May 11-27. Based at the Uijeongbu Arts Center, the Uijeongbu Music Theater Festival will stage 10 foreign and domestic productions across the city.

 

Foreign performances to be presented at the festival are Swiss producer Heiner Gobbels' "Hashirigaki" (May 11-12); El Choque Urbano's "Fabricando Sonidos (Making Sounds)" (May 22-23); Joel Zwick's "Monsieur Chopin" (May 16-17) and "George Gershwin Alone" (May 19-20) and Compania Teatro Cinema's "Gemelos" (May 12-13).

 

Local shows include Kim Young Dong's "Sori, the United Korean symphony with Kim Young Dong" (May 15); performance group Tuida's "Hamlet Cantabile" (May 14); The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts' play for children "Grandma Mago" (May 24-25); Uijeongbu Opera Company Prime Philharmonic Orchestra's "Opera Carmen" (May 18-19) and the homegrown musical "Maria Maria" (May 26-27). English subtitles are provided.

 

For details and ticket reservation, visit www.umtf.or.kr or call (031) 828-5847. Tickets are 10,000 won to 40,000 won.

 

Seoul, the cultural mecca of Korea, is not to be left out. Springwave Festival kicks off on May 4 and runs through May 30 at several different venues around the capital city including the Seoul Arts Center, Arko Art Center and Rodin Gallery. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and several European embassies, the festival gives audiences the opportunity to appreciate arts in various forms - through painting, installations and performing arts.

 

For the opening of the festival, William Forsythe, one of the world's foremost choreographers, presents his installation titled "Scattered Crowd" at the Rodin Gallery (May 4-5). According to the organizing committee, 4,000 white balloons, floating like clouds over a sea of sounds, will be installed, letting visitors create something new, something that moves inside a living piece of art.

For more information, visit www.springwave.org or call (02) 725-1164~5.

 

The Ansan International Busking Arts Festival will be held May 4-6 with 30 street performing troupes from 16 countries participating. Busking arts refers to performing arts made by and for buskers and street performers. The street festival includes a number of circus performances including "Bondarenko," "Chinese Acrobatic Circus" and "Cirque Baroque." The organizing committee said this year's festival will present various busking arts like musical and mime performances. Performances are free. For more information, call (031) 481-3838 or visit www.aibaf.com

 

The source of news : The Korea Herald  2007.04.09