Masskara dancers make history in Korea’s Ulsan Maduhee Festival

THE world-renowned Masskara Festival dancers made history as the first-ever foreign performing group to have graced the Maduhee Festival in Ulsan City, South Korea.

The delegation from Bacolod City, led by Councilor Em Ang, was featured in the three-day Maduhee Festival held from June 7 to 9.

Ang, who posted photos of the event in her Facebook account, said the Masskara dance team was the only foreign performer in the 2019 edition of the festival.

“It is the first time in the festival’s 320-year history that a foreign group was invited to perform,” said the councilor, the chairperson of the Bacolod City Council committee on tourism and action officer of the Masskara Festival.

The Ulsan Maduhee Festival in the old downtown of Ulsan City is considered the largest tug-ofwar game that has been played long before the Joseon Dynasty. The game, translated in English as “playing with a horse head”, is evaluated as a dynamic local culture incorporating the military and regional culture and traditions of Ulsan.

This year, more than 2,000 participants joined the tugging of a giant rope during the re-enactment of the “Maduhee”.

The Masskara dancers landed the front page of the Ulsan Metropolitan Daily on Monday as shown in the photo of the newspaper taken by Ang.

Ulsan Maduhee is the second Korean festival graced by the Masskara dancers this year, after the Daegu Colorful Festival last month.

In Daegu City, the Masskara Dance Team was declared Best Foreign Group after besting 21 other groups in the foreign category, which was one of the festival’s five categories during the two-day event.

They edged out teams from other Asian countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

In October last year, the Masskara Festival dancers also represented the Philippines in the World Mask Dance Competition 2018 in Andong City and took home the bronze medal.

The said contest, participated in by mask-based festivals from 13 countries, was one of the highlights of Korea’s Andong Mask Dance Festival.

Bacolod’s annual Masskara Festival, which turns 40 this year, is held every October.