Talchum: Korean Mask Dance

Have you ever wondered what they call the Korean dance where performers are wearing a mask while singing? That particular art form is called TALCHUM. If my memory serves me right and with the limited Korean movies that I’ve watched (around 4 to be exact), I think it was in the movie “The King and the Clown”, which I saw about 4 or 5 years ago where I saw this particular art form. I remember the actors wearing masks dancing and singing while performing a skit mocking members of the Royal Court as well as the king.

Talchum is a mask drama wherein characters talk, sing and dance wearing masks. Performers not only portray persons but also supernatural beings as well as animals. Audience participation is a distinctive feature of this Korean art form, as they are asked to join in the community dancing. Because of the social classes that existed in early Korea, the drama was a way for the commoners or the ordinary people to relieve themselves of the stresses of their everyday life as well as a means of showing their bitterness towards the noblemen or the privileged class of society. The play often lampooned the upper classes by using masks with deformed faces. The commoners were also portrayed as clumsy fools.