[News Culture] International visitors sit around the performance space, sampling traditional tea, sweets, rice cakes and fruit as Korean instruments sound nearby. A dancer in hanbok performs with a fan, a small drum and swords. At “Human Scale Onggi Concert,” the audience experiences Korean traditional music and dance just a few steps from the performers.
News Culture attended the Nov. 2 performance at Gwangmudae, inside the Traditional Performance Art Creation Maru in Seoul’s Dongdaemun area. Before the 4 p.m. start, visitors sipped omija, or five-flavor berry tea, while English-speaking guide Park Seon-ju introduced the program. They then moved into the “Black Room,” where the performance would take place.
All 30 seats were occupied. The afternoon featured dancer Baek Seung-min, vocalist Kim Yoon-a, Lee Min-hyeong on the janggu hourglass drum and Nam Seong-hun on the ajaeng bowed zither. Accompanied by voice, percussion and strings, Baek presented fan dance, small-drum dance, salpuri and sword dance. The audience could follow the details of the choreography at close range.
Earthenware jars placed around the stage were central to the concert’s acoustic design. Known as onggi, they serve as sound diffusers and resonating vessels, helping carry the nuances of the voices and instruments through the room.
The short distance between the seats and the stage made the performers’ breathing and movements readily apparent. Small shifts in posture and gesture remained visible alongside the larger movements of each dance.
English commentary gave visitors context for what they were watching. Between performances, the guide introduced the dances’ histories and highlighted details to look for, helping audience members unfamiliar with Korean traditional arts follow the program.
Developed for international visitors, “Human Scale Onggi Concert” presents Korean traditional arts in a small salon setting. The project aims to develop repertoire suited to intimate venues while creating performance opportunities for young artists.
The format grew out of concerns that large theaters can leave audiences distant from performers and offer little opportunity for interaction. By reducing reliance on microphones, elaborate lighting and other stage equipment, the production brings artists and spectators closer together. It applies the architectural principle of human scale, which designs spaces around the dimensions and senses of the human body.
Following a pansori season in July and August, the October–December program alternates traditional dance and yeonhui, a broad category of Korean folk performance, in two-week blocks. The yeonhui lineup comprises two teams drawn from Kim Hyang-su-ri and Jung Yeon-sil, trainees in the National Intangible Heritage tradition of baltal; Kim Yeong-eun, a certified practitioner of Jinju Samcheonpo Nongak and Donghaean Byeolsingut; and Seong Yu-gyeong of Yeonhui Company Yuhui.
The dance programs feature Kim Dan-woo, a former trainee with the National Dance Company of Korea, and Baek Seung-min, a graduate of Sejong University’s dance department. Accompanying artists across the season include Nam Seong-hun, Bae Ho-yeong, Kim Yoon-a, Shin Byeol-ha, Lee Min-hyeong and Jo Bong-guk.
After the performance, guests can speak with the artists and take photographs before moving to the “White Room.” There, they can try traditional instruments, handle dance props such as salpuri cloths and performance swords, and put on hanbok.
The venue connects the program to Seoul’s performance history. The original Gwangmudae opened in 1907 and provided a home for pansori and changgeuk, Korean traditional music theater, during a period of growing Western cultural influence. Destroyed by fire in 1930, it has been revived at its former site, now on the ninth floor of the Dongdaemun Shopping Complex’s new building.
Organized by the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation, the traditional dance and yeonhui season of “Human Scale Onggi Concert” continues through Dec. 9 at Gwangmudae, with performances at 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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