Performing in Korea

In October, I got the opportunity to perform in Korea. I remember tearing when my teacher told me cuz I've was really really excited/ glad that they chose me. It was an all-expenses paid trip, and on top of that they gave us extra allowance for each performance. But most importantly, I got to gain so much experience.
It was an event by the Singapore Tourism Board, where people from all over Asia would come together and put up performances in Korea. So I got to see the traditional (and not so traditional) dances from each country, which was really interesting.
We had to prepare three performances - for Andong, Jeonju and Seoul.



2 chinese dancers, 2 malay dancers, and 2 indian dancers to represent our different cultures.
Michelle and Haifang (also in this picture) are from STB and they were our guides for this whole trip. I was really glad that they were both so friendly, otherwise the trip wouldn't have been as fun as it was.



A picture with the family members who came to send us off (including my mum!) + Doris who is in charge of PA's chinese dance.



Cikgu Osman is the malay dance teacher. He's really funny and expressive, and I honestly love his choreography.

Before I flew over, I did some research on the weather. It was autumn time, and the temperature was supposed to range between 20 to 25 degrees. That's the normal air-con temperature so I didn't bother to bring anything extensive.
HUGE MISTAKE.
It was insanely cold!!! When we were in Jeonju, the temperature dropped to 8 degrees (probably cuz of the wind too) and I was freezing. Thank god Ruban's jacket is huge hahaha.



Buffet lunch at Lotte City Hotel :-)

I'm just regurgitating all these from memory, so it might be wrong HAHAHA.



We took the train to Myeong-dong on the first and last days. I loved taking the train - from figuring out which station to drop at to looking at the scenery. It was like being part of them, and that's the best part about traveling.

The funniest period was on the last day when Luojia wasn't with us. (She guided us on the first day, but on the last day she went to meet her husband, leaving the five of us to guide ourselves back to the hotel.) We couldn't figure out where to go because the map was CRAZILY CONGESTED. It's huge and nothing like the one in Singapore. I took a picture of it with my phone, I'll post it next time.
We felt like lost souls, and Bada had so much trouble with the tapping-out until he got so frustrated he just walked over the barrier HAHAHA.



Myeong-dong is basically the much larger (and better) version of Bugis Street. There were many different outlets of the same brands. Most people (like us) go there for the cosmetics and beauty products cuz they have a wide variety there. I must've spent a fortune on Etude House/ Nature Republic/ Innisfree/ Face Shop etc.
But the things there are so much cheaper! Despite the reduced prices, they even have further discounts. A face mask is probably just S$1 each, and it's from reputable brands.

On the second-last day in Seoul, Luojia and I (literally) ran to this Face Shop outlet by the train station cuz everything was 50% off hahaha. We spent so much after just 10 minutes in the shop. We were supposed to be back in the hotel room already, but we couldn't resist the sale hehe.



Buffet breakfast @ Best Western Gunsan Hotel :-)



This was my favourite dance - The Orchid Dance. This was our first performance, the Andong Maskdance Festival.
All the ten countries had to parade around in our costumes, and like I mentioned it was really cold. Our shoulders were completely exposed, and our legs were only covered with nude stockings. So many people came up to ask us if we were feeling cold LOL I WAS SHAKING.
They were really fascinated with our clogs though. It wasn't easy dancing in them, that's for sure.

Pardon my face - This was taken after the parading and performance. I didn't wanna post this picture but I thought... It's just for memories right haha.

We also visited Hahoe Village, but the pictures are in my phone hehe.



This was our costume for the second dance - Incense, for the Jeonju International Sori Festival.



Happy moment when they gave us Artist passes.

I didn't take any pictures of the third performance in Seoul, but we performed Gloria - which was what we performed for the International Congress.



Stuff I bought after the whole trip hahaha.



We concluded the trip with happy jump shots in Incheon Airport hehe.
Overall it was a really fruitful trip - my first overseas experience with PA. The five other dancers - Luojia, Noni, Bada, Ananthi and Morgan - have all been in PA for SO much longer than me. I've only joined for a couple of months but they're been inside for years..... I really appreciated all their guidance, and I'm glad this trip brought all of us closer.

I'm looking forward to the next overseas trip (hopefully it'll be soon) hehe!