Hahoe Mask Dance of South Korea
PERFORMING SOUTH KOREAN HISTORY
What kind of spectacle combines drama, intrigue, rhythmic drumming, elaborate costumes, and masked dancers bounding around a stage encircled by a rapt audience—a Las Vegas show? The latest hit from Broadway? Or perhaps an 800-year-old South Korean dramatic satire filled with over-the-top performances? The Hahoe Mask Dance is one of Korea’s most traditional folk plays, originally performed to appease local deities and exorcise evil spirits to ensure a bountiful harvest. Both the dance and the city for which it is named, Pungcheon Hahoe village in Andong, South Korea, are considered national treasures and recognized by UNESCO as a tentative World Heritage site. The village, notable for its preservation of 16th century architecture, writings, and variety of ancient folk arts, traditionally hosted the masked dance starting on New Year’s Day with festivities that lasted up to two weeks. The Hahoe Mask Dance involved a cast of characters drawn from all areas of society—the arrogant aristocrat, a Buddhist monk, a dull scholar, and a naïve bride, to name a few.
Two players perform the Hahoe Mask Dance before a crowd.
Currently, the dance is performed by Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Preservation Society members for village members and tourists alike, every weekend beginning in late spring. The mask dance has lost much of its original ritualistic significance and is performed today as an entertaining chapter of folk art history. —SBR