Ambassador Park and Dr al-Sulaiti announcing the staging of the 8th Korea – Arab Friendship Caravan in Doha. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter
A group of 25 Korean performers will showcase oriental and contemporary break dances on October 9 at Katara – the Cultural Village to mark the 8th Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan which will take place in three countries in the Middle East.
“The group’s first stop will be in Doha before leaving to Dubai in the UAE,” Korean ambassador Heung-kyeong Park told a press conference yesterday along with Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti.
The last stop for the caravan will be in Beirut and Tyre in Lebanon. “The event is aimed at encouraging cultural, economic, academic and educational exchange between Korea and Arab region,” Park stressed. “It will be a very meaningful performance and it will give us joy, understanding and will remind us of deep humanism.”
He said the award-winning street dance group Marionette will perform on stage using a puppet controlled by strings.
Marionette, created by the world-class B-boy team Expression Crew, won a World Break Dance competition in the past. It is the first ever B-boy team to win a world competition from Asia.
The group continues to play an important role in promoting cultural exchanges for mutual co-operation and friendship within Korea and abroad.
“They would like to show some break dance in the form of Marionette and it would be very interesting. They will also feature different unique performances in black light show,” Park noted.
The envoy added that spectators will also enjoy watching oriental fan and drum dances led by the Gyeonggi Provincial Dance Company, which was established in 1993.
Performers will play their own percussion instruments on stage while one performer will do an acrobat feat using long strings above his hand.
Gyeonggi aims to further develop Korea’s traditional dance and promote unique regional cultures. It conducts more than 150 performances annually in Korea and overseas including Jordan, the UAE, the US, Australia, China, Canada, Japan, and Morocco, among others.
On the day of the performance, the Korean embassy in Doha will also celebrate the 569th anniversary of promulgation of the Korean alphabet known as “Hangul Day.”
The caravan is organised by the Korea-Arab Society, a non-profit organisation funded by the Korean and Arab governments, business entities and other organisations to enhance exchange and co-operation between Korea and Arab countries.
