Attended by ambassadors of Romania and other countries
By Publisher Lee Kyung-sik with Editors Cho Kyung-hee, Sung Jong-wook
An impressive opening ceremony of the 2019 Cheonan Heungtaryeong Dance Festival was kicked off at the Cheonan Samgeogi Park and the Cheonan Arts Center in the Cheonan City some 100 kilometers south of Seoul on the evening of September 25 this year in a five-day run. Several thousand people, including representatives from many different countries of the world.
The opening ceremony was also attended by over 20 members of the Seoul Diplomatic Corps (SDC), including ambassadors and madams in a special diplomat tour organized by The Korea Post media. (See list of participating ambassadors and other diplomats at the end of this report.)
The dance festival was also participated in by other noted international celebrities from many different countries of the world who included the leaders of dancing and other performing art troupes from a total of 15 different countries of the world.
Held on the theme of “To Cheonan for Fun and Dance,” the 2019 Cheonan Dance Festival also included dance performances presented on the street in various places of the Cheonan City after those at the opening ceremony.
At the opening ceremony, Mayor Koo Bon-young of the Cheonan City was presented with a Plaque of Citation by Ambassador Mihai Ciompec of Romania who honored the mayor on behalf of the visiting members of the SDC. In return, Mayor Koo presented each one of the visiting members of the SDC with a gift
Among the highlight performances at the opening ceremony, which lasted about two and half hours, were popular Korean singers and dancers who included Weki Weki, Kunakun, Mongni, Gumjandi, Park Seo-jin, Bae Il-ho, and Hyun Joon.
The highlight performance of the five-day Cheonan Dance Festival was a Street Dance Parade slated on Sept. 27 presented at a road section some 550 meters long in the city participated in by a total of over 1,900 performers forming 34 different teams from various countries of the world.
Reputed to be Korea’s largest dance event, the Cheonan Heungtaryeong Dance Festival, which marks its 17th anniversary this year, was selected as a representative performing arts festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the sixth consecutive year, and is expected to win the same honor this year.
The dance troupes from overseas this year included Kosovo National Ensemble of songs and dance 'Shota,’ Romanian Folk Dance Group Dorul, Turkish Golden Bridge Folk Dances Ensemble Sport Club, Polish Promni Folk Dance Ensemble, the Republic of Sakha National Ensemble of Dance 'Druzhba,' African Tumbas of Kenya Dancers, Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Bolivia, Integracion Andina of Ecuador, Tradicion Guarani of Paraguay, Ara Macao Dance Company, Grupo de Danza Folkorica Ollin Yoliztli of Mexico, XB Dance studio Jakarta of Indonesia, Sabo Dance Troupe of Uzbekistan, Sultan Idris Educational University of Malyasia, Khong Thong Witthaya School of Thailand, two dancing troupes from China, several performing troupes from Korea and Palau Polynesian Dance Group from Oceania.
The participating members of the Seoul Diplomatic Corps included Ambassadors Mihai Ciompec of Romania, Hazem M. Fahmy of Egypt, Wylbur Chisiya Simuusa of the Zambia, and Kathos Jibao Mattai of Sierra Leone, most of them accompanies by their spouses. There also were Charge d’Affaires Luis Pablo Ossio Bustillos of Bolivia, Mrs. Chafika Derragui (spouse of the Ambassador of Algeria), Minister Igor Prelovs of Croatia, Minister Joseph Ngaira Busiega of Kenya, and officers from the embassies of Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Mexico and Austria.