After passing the auditorium entrances in Alumnae Hall on Friday Feb. 23, where showgoers could purchase homemade keychains and charms, guests entered a journey through Korean culture. Wellesley College’s Korean Student Association (KSA) created and hosted their annual Korean Culture Show this past weekend, featuring performances that dated as far back as the late Joseon period (1392-1897) to modern K-pop dances.
There were a few first-time performances, such as “Yongnam Nongak” played by KSA’s Sameul Nori and “Jindo Arirang” sung by Ehyun Kim, accompanied by Jung Hee Oh. Kim is a transfer student from Yonsei University, Korea, and they study mathematics and comparative literature & culture. This is their second semester at Wellesley, and they were eager to participate in the culture show to share more diverse aspects of Korean culture.
Initially, Kim began their act as a one person show, but over time added in accompanying roles to help create a collaborative performance.
“I had originally planned to sing the folk song alone with no accompaniment at all. It was a wild idea when I recall it now, but it seemed reasonable back then. Then several miracles happened: Lauren Lee in the Samulnori team volunteered to play the puk, and Junghee Oh, a professional gayageum player, also reached [out] her helping hand on the performance day. All of a sudden three of us were performing together on one stage, and I am so grateful for Lauren and Junghee Oh,” Kim said.
Consequently, Kim spoke about how being in the United States and the show influenced them and their artistic practice.
“I started to self-learn and practice traditional style singing once I came to the States. It has been about half a year since I began and my singing is very clumsy, yet I have not regretted for a moment that I performed. Through participating at Seoultice, I learned that I can contribute to the community even when I am far from perfection,” Kim stated.
They noted that it also helped that the KSA was a supportive group that had Kim’s back when they sang upstage.
“It was so heartwarming to see performers backstage cheering each other’s teams, exchanging small words of ‘That was great!’ and ‘Good job!’ I think it is impossible to know how huge a support these little words convey without having been right back from the spotlight,” Kim remarked. It’s clear that the members who contributed to the culture show worked hard and supported one another to make sure that the performances were truly a journey through time.
Wellesley KSA’s Seoulstice also had many special guests including Harvard’s Taekwondo club, who demonstrated traditional taekwondo and added their own modern spin via Taekwonmu, a combination of Taekwondo and dancing. After the performance, audience member Vanessa Chen ’27 commented on the club’s inclusion in the show, saying, “I really liked Harvard Taekwondo, it was really cool and funny especially how they made it somehow relate to Wellesley.”
Although presented as a humorous storyline about KSA members traveling through time, Wellesley KSA’s mixture of older and newer Korean performances served to preserve and educate the Wellesley community about the rich cultural history ofKorea. Cultural shows like these are an important way to keep these traditions alive at Wellesley, and it is key for students to participate in them as well as collaborate to ensure these events can continue.
