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Lion Dance

The Lion Dance is a traditional performance in which actors wear lion masks and display a variety of acrobatic and theatrical skills. Among the mask plays that still exist today, the lion dance can be seen in Bukcheong Saja Noreum, Bongsan Talchum, Gangnyeong Talchum, Eunyul Talchum, Suyeong Yaryu, Tongyeong Ogwangdae, Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, and others.



The Lion Dance serves the role of purifying the performance ground. Records of lion masks first appear in literature, specifically in Samguk Sagi and in Sanye, one of Choe Chiwon’s Hyangak Japyeong O-su poems published in a miscellany. Sanye refers to a lion dance performed while wearing a lion mask. This poem reveals that the lion dance was introduced through Yusa, that is, via the Gobi Desert, thereby clarifying its origins. It explicitly states that the lion dance has roots in Western regions. Among the various lion mask performances, the Bongsan Talchum has been particularly recreated.



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