Clap, Clap, Clap & Dong Dda Kung! Feat. N.Cus

As you might be aware, the Seoul Navigators are a talented bunch! We have a lot of dancers in our midst who couldn’t wait for the opportunity to learn from a K-pop choreographer. For a challenge, we choose a tricky male idol group dance: Seventeen’s Clap. 

Seeing N.Cus

On our way back to our home base of Sinchon to eat dinner, we ran into a special surprise! 

Sinchon is a popular neighborhood for street performers and busking, so we’ve gotten used to seeing live performances at all times of the day. But this day we were particularly fortunate to run into a pre-debut Idol group who was performing for fans.

Off we go to Jeonju!

We wouldn’t have had a complete experience in Korea without visiting a city outside of Seoul! So that’s what we did in our middle weekend of the program. A 3 and a half hour bus rise, and we found ourselves in Jeonju, South Korea. We had the opportunity to sleep in traditional Korean houses, where we slept on padded mats on the floor. We definitely got a restful nights’ sleep.

During our stay in the Jeonju Hanok Village, we were fully immersed in Korean cultural activities. We first learned about the history and importance mask dances and how they differ by region. Some of our own even got to try on a few different types of masks that played different roles within the story of the masked dance drama. The highlight, however was learning to dance with the Lion Mask.

Our next stop was the Korean traditional wedding hall, where we learned the history and significance of each item of clothing the bride and groom wear and the items that are prepared for their special day. We got to try on these traditional wedding clothes which was a fantastic opportunity. 

Fan Making

We also had the opportunity to make our own fans from Korean traditional paper and decorate them with real, dry flowers. Careful precision was necessary to attach the tiny flowers to the fan without blowing everything away or tearing the flowers while gluing them down. 

Learning Janggu

For our last cultural activity - we learned a traditional instrument that is prevalent in Korean folk music, Samul Nori. The Janggu is a double sided drum played with different sticks. We had a blast learning all the rhythms that go along with the performances!  Dong means playing both hands together, dda means playing just the left hand, and kung means playing with the right hand. Without being able to read a music scores, we were able to memorize these representative words and easily replicated our instructors' rhythms.

After heading back to Seoul, we finished up our trip with a visit to BTS’ favorite restaurant in Gangnam. We ate samgyetang - ginseng chicken soup. Despite being piping hot, it’s traditionally eaten during the summer as a way to refresh the body and mind. We left refreshed (and also with a lot of BTS related paraphernalia!).