Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

19.9.4
Village Arts Festival
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Numerous arts program, combined
with Korean traditional arts, were
prepared for the Olympics. Grand
celebrations at the village began with
a big party on the eve of the Olympics,
together with stage performances and
film presentations such as "The Diary
of King Yonsan" and 10 cultural films
including "Seoul Family." Exhibitions
of Korean traditional costume and
photographs were held at the Korea
Exhibition Room in the Athletes' Hall.
Along the Sungnae Stream in the
village, traditional swing contests were
held to introduce Korea's folk customs.
The village arts festival was organized
by the village cultural events section
under the control of Cultural Program
Operation Unit. Some 50 personnel
were employed in the section-20
illumination engineers, 10 audio
engineers, six projection operators, six
directors and assistant directors, seven
producers and assistant producers
and a planner. Thrity-three volunteers
also participated in the festival
activities.
Performances
Performances were held 13 times
including the "Games Festival eve" on
September 16 and "Farewell Night" on
October 2 at the Olympic Youth
Culture Center in the Olympic Park
and the Flag Plaza inside the village.
Programs pertinent to each continent
were performed, titled "Asian Night,"
"Oceania Night," "European Night,"
"American Night," "Barcelona Night."
There were also three special village
performances and a Chusok
celebration.
A temporary stage structure of 397
square meters was installed for the eve
festival with 3,000 seating capacity.
The festival started at 8 p.m. with a
dance performance led by Im Yi-jo and
chuitatae played by 50 National
Classical Music Institute members.
The festival continued for two hours,
consisting of various programs such
as the flag parade by 170 Sungam
Girls' Junior High School students,
Hollywood show, Korean folk dance,
Johnny Yoon Special, Together With
Patty and an Arirang Show.
The African Night was on the 18th,
introducing a laser beam display, and
"Okomu," "Young Star Show,"
"Dance, Dance, Dance," and Senegal
Folk Dance unique to African
continent were performed. The Asian
night was on the 20th where Yogi
Danid played "Iranian Feat."
Australian women's trio show and the
Philippine "Good Vibration" performances
were shown at Oceania Night
on the 21st. On the 27th during the
European Night, athletes from Europe
sang "Bonus, Bonus, Bonus." On
American Night, 14 Californian models
staged a model show called "With
California."
A performance celebrating Chusok
was held for three hours from 7 p.m. at
the Olympic Youth Culture Center on
Sunday, September 25. The feast for
Chusok started with the World Stone
Festival, Korean Folk Dance, and pop
music show by Love Machine (six-man
vocal group), hosted by Johnny Yoon.
The program captivated the 1,700
people in the audience.
Movies
About 550 movie theater seats were
provided on the second floor of the
Athletes' Hall on a space of 661
square meters. Films were shown
every day from September 3 to
October 4, twice a day from 2 p.m.
Movies shown included culture movies
(running time: 20 minutes) introducing
Korea and feature films (running time:
1 hour and 40 minutes).
Some of the feature films were "The
Diary of King Yonsan," "The Pillar of
Mist," "The Surrogate Woman,"
"Gilsodom," "Potatoes," "My Darling
Horse in Paris," "Oh! Spinning
Wheel," "Wedding Day," "My Darling
Hollyhock," and "Age of Success."
"The Surrogate Woman" was
extremely popular, attracting an
average of 400 people during half of
its running period. Korean movies
were quite popular among foreigners,
but as some people noted, subtitles
should have been properly attached
for foreigners.
There were a total of 10 cultural films
shown — "Seoul Family," "Traditional
Korean Food," "Cheju Island," "White
Porcelain of the Yi Dynasty," "Ssirum,"
"Mask Dance Drama of Korea,"
"Taekwando," and "Traditional Korean
Music."
Korea Exhibition Room
Various exhibitions were held from 9
a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Korea Exhibition
Room located on the second floor
of the Athletes' Hall. The Korean mask
(tal) and traditional wedding costumes
especially aroused foreigners' interest,
and many were seen taking pictures
wearing the costumes and masks. In
addition, a MultiVision Exhibition was
set up for public relations purposes.
A total of 7,332 people visited the
exhibition room.
Swinging contest
Four swings were set up along the
Sungnae Stream next to the Flag
Plaza. The village headquarters held a
traditional swinging contest on
September 27 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.,
and athletes, officials and operation
personnel were allowed to participate.
The contest site was prepared at the
residential area of the village. The
contest was divided into two sections,
singles and mixed-doubles. Athletes
from Canada took the prize in the
singles match and the mixed-doubles
prize went to Turkey. Kodak donated
cameras, film and T-shirts as prizes.
42
41
43
41. Korean folk dancers at the Youth
Cultural Center of the Olympic Park;
shows were staged especially for foreign
athletes.
42. A Senegalese folk dance was
performed during the African Night
Festival at the Youth Cultural Center.
43. Athletes and officials touring the
Korean Folk Village at Yongin.