Mini Performances Seen Everywhere on Campus

While climbing up the stairs to get to their classes in the Ewha-POSCO Hall, students might have heard a nice Cello piece played live by a small group of students seated in one corner of the building. While having lunch or waiting in line to buy a delicious waffle at the school cafeteria, other students may have heard a student playing the piano and singing the popular song “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson. If they did, they were enjoying the fruits of this year’s Ewha festival.

The Ewha Festival is an event organized by the Student Welfare Center in which clubs and individual students are provided the opportunity to perform or show off their talents or club activities through visual displays. This year the festival has grown in size, length, and space—the number of participants has increased, the festival has taken place for a longer period, and the location of stages has become diverse.

Compared with last year, when a total of 10 teams or individuals performed, this year a total of 39 teams performed. In addition, 33 teams signed up to display drawings or photos on campus, which will continue throughout April, while the duration of the entire festival last was about a week.

This year, the Student Welfare Center organized the festival two parts, one for students majoring in music and the other for clubs, allowing more individual students and clubs to join and make the campus lively and diverse. Passersby were able to see performances of individuals playing the saxophone, the piano, the cello, and traditional Korean music; also clubs performed short musicals, freestyle rap, jazz dancing, and choreography set to Christian gospel music.

The festival’s stages have also become diverse. Until last year, the festival was held in the lobby of the Student Union Building. This year, the performances were held all around campus including the school cafeteria, the lobby of the Ewha-POSCO Hall, and the front gate. “Because of the construction going on, the campus is not so pretty. We wanted to create a fresh and delightful atmosphere with performances being more reachable to students. That is why we selected places around the campus where many students would be able to see the performances,” said Kim Bong-ryeon, Student Affairs Center Manager.

What did it feel like when performers knew that they were to perform in the school cafeteria where everybody was busy eating lunch? Kim Bo-ry (Korean Music, 2) who performed traditional Korean music said, “I was a little worried since playing traditional Korean music and dressing in hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) while people were eating might give the impression of kisaeng (traditional Korean women entertainers at men’s parties). But after getting some positive reactions from the audience I was happy to see that Korean music could get closer to the students.”

“I have seen performances around the campus at my university too. So it is not that new to me but, nevertheless, it’s really nice to see performances like this,” said Eric Salbert (Ruhr University Bochum, Graduate School) an international student dining in the cafeteria. “I enjoyed the performance because I could see it in comfort,” said Seo Young-eun (Pharmacy, 4).

The Ewha Festival began in the fall semester of 2003 as an event to welcome students coming back to school after a long vacation, add a festive flavor to the campus, and prepare for an energetic beginning to the semester.