By John Redmond
The movie and TV drama location island of Muui Island (also known as Muuido), south of Yongyu Island near Incheon, plans to stage its 12th International Dance Festival on the weekend of July 29 to 31.
With a series of photo, art and craft exhibitions set for Friday, the main dance performances are to take to the outdoor stage on Saturday.
Beginning at 7 p.m. the evening will also feature bands and solo artists concluding at 2 a.m. the next morning.
The dance styles will range from belly dance, jive, Latin dance, salsa, waltz, the tango, cha-cha, modern jazz and traditional Korean folk dance.
The highlights will be a traditional mask dance unique to the region as well as Nanta performances.
Muuido is an island rich in the tradition of dance as dictated by popular folklore. The island's name "Muui" means "dancer's dress" in Korean.
According to the tale there was a kingdom of dance in heaven. Every day during summer there was a dance festival attended by five pretty princesses. Of these, the third princess was said to be the best dancer and always commanded center stage.
One night while she was asleep, her jealous older sister placed a thorn in one of her dancing shoes.
The following day, unaware of the sabotage, the princess tried to dance but was in such pain that she broke down and fled.
After weeping for days, she was alerted to the fragrance of blooming azaleas and descended from the heavens to the land of the living.
The people of a nearby village were afraid of a mean tiger and would sacrifice one virgin every harvest season to secure good crops.
The princess was so upset by this that she wore a beautiful mask and performed her best dance, completely captivating the mean tiger, causing him to cast aside his evil intentions.
Then the villagers were free of harassment and benefitted from good yields and large catches of fish.
In thanking the princess, the villagers held an annual festival in appreciation of her actions.
Muui Island “the dancing island” is a small island which was joined with Yeongjong Island when Incheon International Airport was built.
It is also the location and permanent set to popular “hallyu” drama “Stairway to Heaven.”
It is a beautiful spot popular with tourists, who like to visit the two main beaches of the island, Silmi Beach and Hanagae Beach. There is a lot of shellfish along the shores of the island.
Nearby Silmi Island (Silmido), a smaller offshore island became historically significant when it was used as the training ground (Jan. 21, 1968 to Aug. 23, 1971) for Unit 684, a South Korean group meant to assassinate then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in revenge for The Blue House raid and assassination attempt of then President Park Chung-hee. Traces of the training facilities can still be seen.
Last year some 5,000 people attended the festival.
During the performances, refreshments and food will be available in a special area.
Muui Island is served by a daily ferry from Incheon ferry terminal, as well as by a frequent car ferry which crosses the narrow channel separating the island from the mainland.
The festival is free. Ferry tickets cost 3,000 won per individual round ticket or 20,000 won per car.
For more information visit www.muuido.org (in Korean only)