DKU performance group fascinates Chinese audience with a collaborative performance of tradition and K-Pop.
On November 4th, Dankook University took part in the Korea-China Culture Festival in Wuxi, China, promoting Korean culture to the 2,600 audience gathered there.
The spectacular performance which was fully sponsored by SK Hynix, including air fare, accommodation and all other expenses, mesmerized residents of Wuxi, China’s largest digital valley and a city with a population of 6 million, not to mention local tourists.
SK Hynix invited Dankook University’s Korean Dance Team which has been an ambassador of Korean culture through performances around the world including in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and students of the departments of contemporary music and modern dance who are prospective stars of the Korean wave of the future. Forty four students from the Jukjeon and Cheonan campuses put their hearts and minds together to create an amazing collaborative performance. Professors and students practiced and worked with each other, going beyond different campuses and student- teacher relationships to unite in the name of Dankook.
The four hour event included performances by Wuxi Institute of Technology (무석특수대학교) and Jiangnan University, followed by DKU’s performance that attracted the most attention as it put on the grand finale.
The Korean traditional dance team performed the buchaechum fan dance, mudang chum shaman dance, mask dance and nongak folk dance. The audience held their breath in awe as they watched how the dancers twirled their fans to create beautiful flowers during the fan dance while experiencing the unique Korean marvel found in the shaman and mask dances. The lively nongak folk dance had the audience clapping along to the beat in no time with the pounding of traditional Korean drum instruments such as the janggu, sogo and buk.
The modern Korean music performance in collaboration with K-POP was received with cheers thanks to the popularity of the Hallyu, Korean Wave. Students majoring in modern dance moved to the rhythm of popular K-POP songs by Big Bang, Miss-A, and others, while the students of contemporary music received thunderous applause for their creative musical performance.
This performance not only helped spread Korean culture, but it also served as a remarkable opportunity to promote Dankook University to Chinese students.
SK Hynix, the world’s second largest player in semiconductors, is also very popular among local Chinese students and admired as a ‘dream workplace.’ The Korean based semiconductor player prefers Chinese recruits who have studied in Korea, and, thanks to the performance, more Chinese students now want to study at Dankook University.
Dankook University’s Office of International Affairs answered questions that Chinese students had on exchange student programs, studying overbroad and internships offered to actively attract students to DKU and further advance the industry-academia partnership between the university and Chinese businesses.
Kang Daeshik, Executive Vice President for External Affairs, said that “it is even more meaningful as the output was made by joint efforts of professors and students from the Jukjeon and Cheonan campuses,” and added that “we hope this performance will help attract foreign students to our school, and we will encourage students to actively take part in fully sponsored and meaningful events to provide students with the opportunity to perform overseas and promote our university.”