performances

Action Drawing Hero: A Spectacle of Live Art

January 2015 Update: Action Drawing Hero is no longer playing. However, the new show, which is quite similar to the one reviewed below, will be running instead. Visit the show’s website for more information. Seoul has its fair share of non-verbal performances, and I’ve been to quite a few of them.  As the genre name …

Hanboks and High Class Tea

Having kicked off earlier this month, the 7th annual Korea in Motion Festival is once again showcasing the very best nonverbal performances the country has to offer. The lineup this year is fantastic, with shows including genres of dance, traditional culture, music, comedy, and action. For the month of September, theater enthusiasts can see Seoul’s …

Pungnyu at the Palace

Korea wasn’t always an incredibly modern, high tech, “bbali, bbali” (“hurry, hurry”) country. In fact, back in the day before it was a nation of Samsung and skyscrapers, its residents preferred a simpler, slower paced lifestyle. I remember when this fact was first brought to my attention last year. I was walking with a Korean …

Wedding, the Musical

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a rather bizarre wedding that featured father-of-the-bride drunkenness, a rock-n-roll twist-off, and a gay stripper. OK, so it wasn’t a real wedding, but rather the latest non-verbal performance to hit the stage of the PMC 대학로 자유극장 theater in Hyehwa-dong. I was happy to be on yet …

Karma: A Korean Fantasy World

Last night, I had the opportunity to see another one of the wonderful non-verbal performances here in Seoul (thanks KTO!). This time around, it was Karma, which is currently showing at the Karma Theater at the Cheongjeongno Station area. I had actually already seen Karma before but was excited to be able to take along …

An Evening of Gugak

One of my favorite things about Seoul is that it is a super-modern city that maintains many of its age-old customs. One can spend the morning sipping traditional tea in a preserved hanok and meander on over to the visually captivating N’Seoul Tower to enjoy the millions of lights that illuminate the city in the …

Dreams Come True

In middle school, I used to dream of being a pop star, as I am sure many girls of that age do. I even formed a singing group with two friends (coincidentally named 2AM) and demanded regular rehearsals for non-existent gigs. Despite my lack of actual talent, I used to pray for a chance to …