This is a scene from the opening ceremony of last year's Andong Maskdance Festival on Sept. 30, 2022, in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. (Festival's official website)

By Lee Dasom
The annual Andong Maskdance Festival opening next month will feature traditional masks and related dances.

The municipal government of Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, on Sept. 14 said the event will run from Oct. 1-9 in and around the city including at the former Andong Station and Maskdance Park.

Founded in 1997, the festival seeks to pass on traditional mask dances named intangible cultural heritage and those without the designation through performances.

Under the theme "Radiant Blossoming Mask and Maskdance," this year's edition will celebrate the designation in November last year of Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Performance (Hahoe Byeolsingut Exorcism) as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

At the evening event on Oct. 1 the day before the festival at the former station and the opening ceremony on Oct. 2 on the main stage of the same venue, interactive programs with visitors will be held like Gangsin (invocation to a god) madang (act) of the Hahoe performance, city parade, mask dance performance and drone show.

K-pop artists such as STAYC, BY and Woody on Oct. 3 will perform at Maskdance Park and other acts like CRYING NUT, Boombeat Brass Band and DJ Sefo will appear in the Mask EDM Party on the main stage of the former station site.

Visitors on Oct. 6 can wear masks and enter world mask play and creative mask contests and random play dance programs. Mask dance content will be available throughout Andong such as a world mask exhibition, metaverse interactive hall for the festival and exhibition of old photos of mask dances.

From Oct. 3-9, 11 teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan, Taiwan, Israel and Singapore will perform while wearing the masks of their respective countries. Domestic troupes will showcase 17 of the nation's 18 mask dances inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This year's festival will also be the first to showcase the Jeju Island version of the shamanistic ritual Ipchun gut.

Andong Mayor Kwon Gichang said, "Based on the Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Performance designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, we will do our best so that the festival goes beyond its brand value as an honorary representative festival of culture and tourism of the Republic of Korea to further develop into an event made by the region and enjoyed by people worldwide."

More information on the festival and its schedule are available on the event's official website:
http://www.maskdance.com/2022/main.asp.

This is a promotional poster of this year's Andong Maskdance Festival. (Andong City Hall's official Facebook)