Mime Unites Tourists, Artists
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Chuncheon, just two hours northeast of Seoul, is known as one of the best tourist spots with Nami Island and several picturesque lakes surrounding the city.
The city celebrates something special this year ― the 20th anniversary of the Chuncheon International Mime Festival.
For the past 20 years, the festival has been featuring contemporary visual and physical theater where body, movement and image create new theatrical artistry every year.
Because of its vicinity to Seoul and the tourist attractions in the city, the festival has grown to be one of the nation's representative festivals both at home and abroad.
All the events will be performed in the city's downtown streets or on Goseumdochi ― ``Hedgehog'' Island ― in the middle of the North Han River, May 23-June1.
Festival-goers can enjoy not only the mimes but also various cultural activities during the festival.
Performance Lineup 2008
When it comes to mimes, people may think about pantomimes with their exaggerated gestures.
But in Chuncheon, visitors can find classical pantomimes, physical theater, movement theater, visual theater, street theater and installation performances and site-specific theaters.
More than 80 local mime troupes and 11 companies from nine countries ― Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, Macao, India, Japan, Israel, France and Australia ― will take part in the 10-day festival.
This year's festival begins Friday with a performance by Candy Butchers, an Australian contemporary circus company, followed by a festival party, all at the outdoor amphitheater of the Chuncheon Children's Hall.
``Art of Dying'' by Paolo Nani & Kristjan Ingimarsson from Denmark, and ``Old Men Blues'' by Torio Mime Live from Japan will show classical mime techniques.
The festival will have some of the best new international circus groups, including Noa & Uri Weiss from Israel and 9.81 from France, which will showcase a blend of contemporary theater with traditional circus techniques and body movement.
Fabrik Company from Germany and Korea's Sadari Movement Laboratory ― internationally recognized as among the world's leading dance theatre and physical theatre companies ― will present the highly innovative performances ``Pandora 88'' and ``Woyzeck,'' respectively.
Out To from Taiwan and Macao and 9.81 from France will present exciting site-specific theatre works in downtown Chuncheon at the Gwangjang bookstore and outdoors along the wall of M department store.
This year seven companies will work with Asian movement, both traditional and contemporary, which are featured at the festival every year.
These include Mu Se-chung and Shim Woo-sung performing Korean body movement; Gangneung Gwanno Gamyeongeuk with Korean non-verbal mask drama; and two companies ― Korea's Nerumsani and Team Win Lion Dance Theatre ― presenting the Taiwanese Lion Dance. Additionally Asian movement works will include the Daedong Avangard Theater's Dano Mask Play and Tadashi Endo presenting Japanese Butoh, ``MA.''
As always, there will be plenty of ``nanjang'' ― or Korean carnivals ― starting on May 25,
which will perform throughout the city during the week.
The weekend festivities will begin May 30 at 9 p.m. on Goseumdochi Island with ``Friday Madness Night,'' an all-night multi-media performance with installation art, experimental theater and dance, and a Korean shamanistic ceremony, all exploring the relationship between performance action and landscape.
``Dokkebi Nanjang,'' which has a carnival atmosphere, will kick off at 1 p.m. May 31, and ends 5:30 p.m. on June 1 afternoon.
On Saturday night, the big stage on Goseumdochi Island will become the scene for visual and physical theater, along with music, dance, circus, B-boy, and encore performances by many of the featured international companies.
Dokkebi Express to Festival
Package programs are available on the Dokkebi Train, which connects Cheongnyangni Station in Seoul to the festival venue by train.
From Cheongnyangni Station in northeastern Seoul, the train leaves May 31, returning on June 1.
The train fare includes a round-trip, insurance and entry to one indoor theater performance, along with all Dokkebi Nanjang activities. Contact dokkebitrain@naver.com for Dokkebi Express tickets.
Lake City, Chuncheon
Chuncheon is often called the city of lakes as it is surrounded by Lake Soyang, Lake Chuncheon and Lake Uiam.
Also, visitors may enjoy one of the many popular day trips from Chuncheon, including visits to Soyang Dam, Cheonpyeongsa Temple and nearby Gangchon.
For those who are driving there, the beautiful course from Lake Uiam to Chuncheon Dam is a famous attraction, popular as a romantic destination for young couples.
Among others, not to be missed is the local specialties ― ``dakgalbi,'' tender chicken cooked with vegetables in a spicy sauce; and ``makguksu,'' or cold buckwheat noodles.
You can stop by Myeong-dong street, which is famous for its numerous restaurants to taste the local specialties.
Celebrate Mime's Coming of Age, Yu Says
Art Director Yu Jin-gyu, who has directed the festival for 20 years, now sees a large number of visitors and artists from around the world.
For this year's festival, about 1,000 performers will take part in more than 120 performances.
``When I participated in the first mime festival, there were only five mime performers and the performance was regarded as fringe art and nobody saw us as artists in a genre,'' Yu told The Korea Times.
He said that when he first began to mime, it was a life-and-death matter for the genre in the diversity-devoid mainstream performing arts scene.
``I have tried to raise awareness about mimes and break the bias against the genre,'' he said.
Miming is defined as moving the human body to conjure up an image, he said.
Yu said the festival has sought true festiveness, rather than just presenting performances, to induce participation from visitors.
``We want to help visitors to actively engage in the festival, escaping from their daily routines through `Dokkebi Nanjang' and `Friday Madness Night,' the over-night programs,'' he said.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the festival, he said, ``People celebrate their coming-of-age when they reach the age of 20 and also they should be more responsible. We also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival, and now we should be more responsible and mature enough to make our identity clear,'' he said.
Yu started learning mime as part of an acting class when he worked for a theatrical troupe in 1972. But after tasting the art he turned his eyes from plays to mime.
``Miming has something special that strongly attracts me. It's the interaction between the performer and the audience without any words. It's different from dance, where artists move to music. Miming is the art of an individual artist unlike a play, which requires a collective effort to perform it,'' he said.