Busan to stage intangible heritage performance to mark port's 150th anniversary

Busan will hold the 3rd Intangible Heritage-Based Creative Performance, titled "Hanggu-ui Heung, Segye-ui Ulrim" (The Spirit of the Port, the Resonance of the World), at the outdoor plaza of the Busan Eurasia Platform on Saturday at 2 p.m., the city announced Wednesday.

Planned to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of Busan Port, the event will celebrate the city's dynamic history of global exchange through its harbor and reinterpret the vitality and spirit of Busan's designated intangible heritage in a contemporary setting.

Five groups will perform, each drawing on Busan's intangible heritage as creative inspiration. Hyeon-MoveLab, a troupe centered on members of the Busan National Gugak Center, will present "I Don't Have to Be a Crane," a piece rooted in the Dongnaehak-chum crane dance that reflects on society's gaze toward difference. Street dance team Baegui and contemporary dance team Baegyeong will jointly stage "Reset: RESET," a work based on the Dongnae Yaryu mask drama that explores the process of reviving essences to create new beginnings.

Nanjang & Pan (NJNP) will blend Busan nongak (farmers' music) with the Mueul nongak of Gumi and Gyeonggi Province nongak, incorporating acrobatic and hoop-spinning acts from namsadang (traveling performers) traditions. Indie band Syllable will reinterpret two Busan intangible heritage rituals — the Chungnyeolsa Jehyang shrine ceremony and the Gudeok Mangkke Teo Dajigi ground-pounding ritual — through a fresh, youthful musical lens.

The event will also feature audience activities and an intangible heritage quiz with prizes to boost public interest and understanding. City Culture Bureau Director Jo Yu-jang said the performance was "a meaningful work that captures Busan's spirit of openness to the world on the 150th anniversary of the port's opening, expressing the beauty of local intangible heritage through a contemporary sensibility."