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Masked dancers play out the 6th element called “chibarinori,” which encompasses dance, poetry and ballads last Sunday at the Yangju Byeolsandaenori Plaza.
/ KoreaTimes Photos by Shim Hyun-chul |
 Sounds of traditional musical instruments filled the air as a mask dance drama took place in the center of a large plaza. Not knowing where the stage began and ended and where the audience came in, masked dancers mixed with audience in the vast plaza. Masked dancers would move their shoulders to the rhythm of the music or strike satirical poses, drawing out laughter.
So the masked dance play went on as a cool fall breeze blew, as the rice paddies turned golden and as swallows with their mouths filled with grain, sang their songs.
Fall is here, and Chuseok, which symbolizes the season's abundance, is a few days away.
The mask dance drama or Yangju Byeolsandaenori, was a mask drama held on important holidays such as Chuseok. Designated as Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 2 in 1964, the dance continues with its tradition to date. Originally, Yangju Byeolsandaenori was a mask dance drama that played in Seoul and central region.
 | | Children take photos with their cellular-phone cameras of the masked dance players the Yangju Byeolsandaenori Plaza in Yangju. |
But it took on its form and its name when a person by the name of Lee Eul-chuk settled in Yangju and held a party with the mask dance drama as it core element. The ``sandae'' means acting out a play on a stand built along a road or in an empty lot. Thus ``sandaenori'' means a play on that stage.
 | | Drumming, members of the Yangju Byeolsandaenori Preservation Association wow the crowd before the masked dance drama is fully played.' |
Yangju Byeolsandaenori comprises of eight gwanjangs or elements. The mask dancers start out with a street play, playing musical instruments along the way. In each of the eight elements, the dancers wear different masks, presenting dance, songs, witty exchange of dialogue and satire. In total, the Byeolsandaenori has 32 characters but usually, only 22 masks are used. The mask dance drama usually deals with the fallen elite class, the doomed monk, the hard life of every day citizens as well as affairs between men and women.
 | | Members of the Yangju Byeolsandaenori Preservation Association reenact the Yangju masked dance drama to the rhythm of Korean music. |
The 200-year-old Yangju Byeolsandaenori is now being preserved by the Yangju Byeolsandarnori Preservation Association. The association also runs a program for students where they can learn the Yangju Byeolsandaenori for a week. There is a free performance from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturdays and Sundays at the Yangju Byeolsandanori Madang (Plaza) in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.
For more information, call (031)840-9986, or click www.sandae.com
shim@koreatimes.co.kr
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