Talchum: Unmasking the Korean Mask Dance
The echo of drums. The hum of a haegeum. Dancers in colorful, characterized masks twirl on the stage. Their long white sleeves trail in arching parabolas.
Talchum (탈춤), a traditional Korean mask dance, was originally a folk dance performed by villagers. Performers would narrate village life or satirize corrupt authority figures behind the safety of a mask. Through talchum, commoners could express their emotions and lives through art without fear of social repercussions.
The mask dance also requires specific traditional attire. A white shirt and baggy pants are worn, with stocking-like coverings tied over the shins. Over these, dancers wear robes in bright colors like red, green, yellow, and blue. Flowing, white sleeves, or hansam, are attached to the wrist, accentuating the dancers’ movement, important when their faces are concealed by masks. The paper or wooden masks, the defining property of talchum, portray heavily caricatured faces in vibrant colors. Masks with more distorted features often represent the more hated members of society, such as yangban, or the nobility.
Throughout Korea, talchum retains basic characteristics, such as the general plotline, costumes, and masks. Talchum also consists of some fundamental dance techniques. Performers typically move their arms in three ways: oe-sawi, circling one arm, yang-sawi, circling both arms, and kyup-sawi, creating two circles with each arm. Dancers lift their legs with bent knees, jump, and walk or skip in circles. During traditional performances, dancers often improvised, adjusting their performance to the audience’s reaction.
Different regions across Korea built on this general overview of talchum to create their own distinct styles. For example, the mask dances from Haeseo, in eastern Korea, contain a powerful move called sawichum, in which performers leap while swirling their hansam. In the Bukcheong region, or present-day North Korea, talchum includes saja noreum, or a lion dance performance.
The Korean American Youth Artists of Texas’ talchum performance features the traditional costumes and masks as well as techniques such as sawichum. The music we are dancing to is a collaboration between a traditional Korean music group, Lee Nalchi (이날치), and a modern dance group, Ambiguous Dance company, to create a song called Beom Nae lyuh Ohndah (범내려온다), which translates to Tiger Coming Down the Mountain.
We hope you enjoy KAYAT’s traditional talchum dance with slightly modernized music, fitting for a youth organization seeking a bridge between their cultural past and present.
Informational Sources:
Kim, Minjoo. “For and By Commoners: Bongsan Talchum – Korean Traditional Mask Dance.” Global Theater, 17 Jan. 2019, cducomb.colgate.domains/globaltheater/asia/for-and-by-commoners-bongsan-talchum-korean-traditional-mask-dance/.
Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS). “Masks & the Mask Dance.” Masks & the Mask Dance : Korea.net : The Official Website of the Republic of Korea, www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=121717.
The Seoulite. “I Don't Know Why but i Can't Stop Watching the Tiger Coming Down.” THE SEOULITE, 4 Apr. 2021, www.theseoulite.com/humor/cant-stop-watching-tiger-is-coming-down/.
Traditional Korean Dance: Tal Chum (Mask Dance), 14 June 2018, www.soas.ac.uk/koreanstudies/events/seminars/16jun2017-traditional-korean-dance-tal-chum-mask-dance.html.
Szczepanski, Kallie. “The Fascinating History of Korean Masks.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/traditional-korean-masks-195133.
Yoon, Miro. “Bongsan Talchum: Korean Mask Dance.” Korean Cultural Center New York, Korean Cultural Center New York, 2 Oct. 2019, www.koreanculture.org/performing-arts/2019/10/31/bongsan-talchum-korean-mask-dance.
