Historical figures and familiar ancient tales are being brought back to life in entirely new ways through dance, song, and performance.

The City of Andong and the Andong Festival Tourism Foundation are presenting 10 performances and programs—including children's puppet shows, madanggeuk, creative plays, and street performances—at the 2026 Andong Maskdance Festival.

Madanggeuk and creative plays blend the dance, vocals, and humorous expressions of traditional performing arts with modern storytelling and stage design. Another defining characteristic is how performers and audience members breathe together up close, sharing laughter and deep emotion.

On September 26, Art Factory Dure's That Wasn't Necessarily So took to the stage. It portrayed the life of Woo-dang Lee Hoe-young—who liquidated all his family's wealth to choose the path of the independence movement—through a dynamic madanggeuk harmonizing actors' acting, dance, and song.

On September 27, the Geundeul Culture and Arts Center presented Ojakgyo Arirang. The production vividly depicted the process of conflict and reconciliation through pungmul (traditional percussion), dance, and song, telling the story of two villages that had been enemies for long ages and a young man and woman who fall in love between them.

The audience-participation street performance Imae's Wedding Day was also held around the Maskdance Park area on September 27 and 28. Featuring masked theater artists who select participants from the audience to conduct a traditional wedding ceremony, the performance showcased madangnori, theater, and traditional weddings all in one place. This performance will return on October 3 and 4.

On October 4 at 5:00 PM, the final day of the festival, Theatre Village People's Maskdance, Heungbu and Nolbu will go up at the Maskdance Theater. By adding traditional performing arts such as maskdance and pansori to the familiar tale of Heungbu and Nolbu, the performance aims to deliver both the timeless fun of the classic and a message relevant to today's audiences.

"Madanggeuk and creative plays are performances that unpack history and ancient stories onto stages that today's audiences can empathize with," said Andong Mayor Kwon Ki-chang. "I hope families will come and enjoy these storytelling stages where dance, song, and acting come together."

Running under the theme "Memory of Masks, Dance of Everyone," the 2026 Andong Maskdance Festival takes place through October 4 across the former Jungangline Andong Station, downtown area, Maskdance Park, and Hahoe Folk Village.

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