By Honorary Reporter Fetty Asihta Kencana Putri from Indonesia
Photos = Agnieszka Kowalczyk & Hae-eo-hwa

Buchaechum (traditional fan dance) is performed at many events featuring Korean culture. A group of dancers wear bright and colorful Hanbok to elegantly move to the sound of sanjo (traditional music whose name literally means "scattered memories") or minyo (folk songs), waving big fans with pink peony blossoms on them.

On May 30, I conducted an email interview with Agnieszka Kowalczyk, a buchaechum dancer in Poland and Honorary Reporter of two years.

Agnieszka Kowalczyk poses in her buchaechum outfit.

Please introduce yourself.
I am Agnieszka Kowalczyk and I live in Poznan, Poland. I am a student of Korean philology at Adam Mickiewicz University and the leader of the buchaechum team Hae-eo-hwa.

How did you first get interested in the dance?
My passion for traditional Korean fan dance started in 2017, when I saw beautifully dressed  girls dancing with huge fans at the Korea Festival in Warsaw. I was mesmerized and immediately fell in love with this dance. The funniest thing is that I had no idea that the performers that day were students at my university. I only found out after joining the team in late 2021.

What made you join the team?
I wanted to learn how to dance using fans and wear stunning Hanbok. The music also made me fall in love with this dance even more. I was sure that if I studied Korean philology, my dream would come true. This is how I joined the dance team Hae-eo-hwa, which means "flowers that can talk" in Korean.

Agnieszka Kowalczyk and her fellow buchaechum dancers perform at Korean Culture Day at her university.

What does buchaechum mean to you?
It's not an easy question since it means a lot of different things to me. But it first means a new experience of being a member of a group, especially one related to something I love, Korea. Performing is a feeling hard to describe; it's more than entertaining or amazing. I've also developed friendships through the group and confidence through our performances. Finally, everything we do together will last forever in my memories, like laughing during rehearsal and dancing in our shows.

Agnieszka Kowalczyk (sitting second from right) and Hae-eo-hwa members pose for a photo at Korean Culture Day held at Adam Mickiewicz University.

What are your plans?
Our group has two more performances planned. We don't know what happens after October but more proposals have come in to perform at festivals and other occasions. That more people want to see us perform makes me happy because it means higher interest in Korean culture, which is one of our goals when doing performing buchaechum in Poland. I'm also planning to study in Korea, so I'll unfortunately have to leave the group for a time. But I'll rejoin when I return.

What concluding message do you have for Korea.net readers?
If you're interested in something, just go for it. What might seem impossible at first becomes possible over time. Just never give up, especially on your dreams. If your dream is to join a buchaechum group, just do it.

msjeon22@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things.