Korean Cultural Center holds traditional Sword Dance workshop
KOREAN Cultural Center in the Philippines (KCC) provided a series of traditional Korean sword dance workshop last April 16 to 27 at University of the Philippines, Ateneo De Manila University, and KCC.
The workshop is one of the overseas programs of National Gugak Center in Korea. About 40 people participated in the workshop which was supervised by Ryu Jae Yeon, the Assistant Principal of National Gugak Center.
After the successful Sword Dance workshop at KCC last year, this year’s workshop provided a more advanced program to the participants. It provided the experience of Korean traditional dance not just to Team Nara, the traditional Korean dance team of KCC, but also to “Kimchi to K-Pop” class of the University of Philippines and Korean Studies Program of Ateneo De Manila University.
“When I think about Korean dance, I always imagine the fancy group dances of K-Pop. However, throughout the sword dance workshop, I discovered another side of Korean culture. The traditional costume that I wore during the workshop was also fascinating. Now I can say that I also love the Korean traditional dance,” said one of the participants of the workshop.
“It was such a meaningful time to give the students an opportunity to experience Korean traditional culture aside from K-Pop,” said Choi Jae Kyoung of Ateneo De Manila University.
KCC Director Lee Jincheol likewise expressed elation on the outcome of the workshop.
“Thanks to this year’s workshop, the Nara team can improve their skills further, and I am glad that they can now showcase a more advanced performance. With this, I will do my best to have the Nara team showcase the Korean traditional dance all over the Philippines,” said Lee.