Songpa Sandae Nori (Mask Dance Drama of Songpa)

Sandae nori is a term for the mask dance dramas of Korea's central region. Songpa Sandae Nori is a branch of sandae dogamgeuk, a form enjoyed in the Seoul and Gyeonggi region, a folk entertainment combining dance and mime with auspicious words and comic wit. It was performed every year as a holiday entertainment at Daeboreum (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), Dano, Baekjung and Chuseok. Songpa village was a commercial hub for the wider Gyeonggi region, and it is said that sandae nori flourished about 200 years ago, when the Songpa market was at its most prosperous, taking shape into the form handed down to the present day. Songpa Sandae Nori consists of seven acts in total. Before the performance, a gillori procession takes place in which performers dressed in masks and costumes march to the performance site to the sound of music, and a gosa ritual is held with the masks laid out. The content, acts, dances and masks are much the same as in Yangju Byeolsandae, but a distinctive feature is that several of its masks, dances and roles preserve an older form: for instance, it retains the hwajangmu dance movement that has already disappeared from Yangju Byeolsandae, and it keeps the masks of Haesaneomeom, Sinhalmi and a shaman, each with its own distinct role. Thirty-three masks made of gourd, pine bark and paper are used, and, as with other mask dances, the performance is centred on dance accompanied by witty dialogue and movement.

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Where it is

Region

Songpa-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Intangible Heritage · 국가무형유산