Cheonan highlights festival with street dance parade

Participants in the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during its street parade program  in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

Participants in the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during its street parade program in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 has come to a climax with its highlight program _ the Street Dance Parade.

According to Cheonan City, over 2,000 homegrown and foreign performers from 47 countries held a street parade in the Shinbu-dong area Friday evening, the five-day event’s third day.

Opening with Cheonan Mayor Park Sang-don’s parade declaration, about a 550-meter strip from Bangjukan Ogeri to Shinsegae Department Store Cheonan Asan turned into a vibrant dance stage with glaring lights to present participants’ unique dances accompanied by traditional music and costumes.

Foreign performance groups, including teams from Albania, South Africa, Bulgaria, France, Germany and Mexico, demonstrated and enjoyed their traditional dances and music with the city’s residents.

This year’s parade was also joined by hip-hop and street dancers who will compete at the Cheonan International Street Dance Championship World final slated for Saturday.

DJ Chunja also delivered an EDM medley with the latest K-pop hits to transform the street into a dance floor not only for performers but also for Cheonan citizens.

Participants of the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during its street parade program in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

Participants of the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during its street parade program in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

The city added it installed about 2,000 seats around the event venue to accommodate family and elderly visitors.

“The parade is the highlight of Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024. This year, some 4,000 dancers from all around the world joined the event with Cheonan citizens,” said Park. “I hope more people will come out and join us to enjoy the event this weekend.”

Organized by the Cheonan Foundation for Arts and Culture, Cheonan World Dance Festival festival kicked off with its international lineup at Cheonan Stadium, Wednesday. Marking its 20th anniversary, the event brought together a total 256 homegrown and foreign performance groups under the slogan of “Let’s Dance in Cheonan.”

Tens of thousands of visitors joined the opening ceremony on the first day where participating foreign performance groups were introduced with teaser shows, followed by a series of welcome performances from hotshot pop stars, including Kwon Eun-bi and Song Ga-in.

According to the city, a total of 870,000 visitors and performing artists joined last year’s festival, resulting in about 43.3 billion won in direct and indirect revenue for the local community. It was also listed in the country’s 25 best local festivals by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2009 and three consecutive years from 2011.

Participants of the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during  its street parade program in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

Participants of the Cheonan World Dance Festival 2024 perform during its street parade program in the South Chungcheong provincial city, Friday. Courtesy of Cheonan City

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