Last weekend, I was invited by KOSNA to go down to Cheonan at the last minute to join a bus filled with other bloggers to attend the Cheonan World Dance Festival. This wasn’t the first time I had heard of the festival, since my friends are into dance, and the festival usually has a good concert headliner (this year was Teen Top and VIXX, but it was on a Tuesday so I couldn’t go.) I’ve always been a huge fan of watching cultural dancing, so I jumped at the opportunity.
Cheonan is a small city about an hour or two from Seoul (Depending on traffic and who’s driving), and it has a lot of universities there. There was a nice balance of a small-town feel yet having all the necessities a city would need. Most of the festival was set up at Samgeori Park, with different stages and pavilions set up all over. When entering through the main gate to the parking lots, there was an incredible display of hanging gourds grown over an archway path. The entire thing was shaded from the surprisingly hot sun, and the sight of the different autumn produce hanging all over was incredible. There were many different kinds of gourds and squash, some fruits, and grapes, which the Cheonan area are known for.
Inside the park, there were many different kinds of things going on. Like many smaller city festivals, it could only be focused only so much without isolating a lot of the people in the area. The first section to be seen was the grape and wine display. Since Cheonan is known in Korea for its grapes, they were on full display, with samples of the grapes and the wineries that can be found around the province. There were even cute fishing games for the kids to play, where they could win a bunch of grapes. I nearly had a go myself, because grapes in Korea are expensive.
Past the grapes and wineries, there was an international food section. Many of the nationalities that would be represented during the festival could be found in this aisle. I was rather impressed with this section, especially considering that we were so far from Seoul and the core of Korea’s international residents. Many of the booths were selling food that was quite authentic, instead of things that were Korean versions of famous dishes from overseas. Many cuisines were available, like France, Japan, Vietnam, Turkey, Germany, and others.
After the international food section, there was a large indoor soccer field. It was a nice relief from the hot sun that day, but it definitely was housing something I didn’t expect. Inside, the field was filled with video game displays. There were small computer areas set up for people to try out games, or just to chill and enjoy their current favourites. They had games that appealed to both guys and girls, but the headlining event was the Korea E-Sports Game Grand Finale.
…Yep.
I had always heard about Korean video game competitions, and how they had professional teams and stuff, but in my three years here, I had never seen a competition. I considered judging everyone in there because they had jerseys for crying out loud. However, I had the sad moment of remembering that these kids with their gaming teams probably had more friends than me in Korea because of their gaming hobby. Even with their ridiculous jerseys. So who am I to judge, really?
Later that evening, the group of bloggers I was with was taken to see the parade with all the performers. We were put in the best seats available, in the finale area at the end of the parade route, so there was quite a while until the parade reached us. We had some local high school dance troupes perform, which was good.
Finally, the performers began to arrive. It was great to see all the dancers from around the world. Cultural dances are some of the most beautiful because they are filled with lots of colour and people smiling. We saw many different cultures that all incredibly high quality dances. My favourite part was seeing all the smiling faces though, since we don’t often see smiles like that in k-pop dancing. Come on k-pop, let’s see smiling faces like these guys have!
Overall, the Cheonan World Dance Festival was fairly well done. The layout was nice, and there were lots of food vendors around with a well-rounded selection of options. The performers were great, but the only downside was that the parade ended up running later than we could stay, so those who were taking a day trip from Seoul needed to leave early.
Beyond that, I had a fun time. I think it definitely could be a worthwhile trip for people from Seoul, especially if they managed to arrange day bus tours for people to get there at an affordable price.
South Korea is an amazing place to visit for so many reasons. After spending 3.5 years living there, I know I can help you plan your own dream vacation. If you’d like to check out the amazing dance culture in South Korea, contact me and I can help plan your Hallyu getaway!
