Day 6 - e) Mass Dance

Thursday September 9, 2010

As we left Moran Hill Park we walked past Kim Il Sung Stadium, the premier soccer venue in North Korea. When we reached the adjacent square on the main road thousands of young ladies and gentlemen were arriving in their Sunday best (ladies in traditional dress and the blokes in shirts and ties) for a mass dance.

Enquiries were made as to what time the dance would begin, and with the circus attendees now reunited we all drove to the Tower Of Juche Idea to witness the dance from high above.

Unfortunately when we arrived there was no dance at the Tower, so the buses then hurried to the Workers Party Of Korea Monument.

The Workers Party Of Korea Monument consists of 50 metre high hammer, sickle, and writing brush components representing the workers, the farmers, and the intellectuals. In this setting we saw thousands of men and women participating in a National Day mass dance:

Mass dance at the Workers Party Of Korea Monument.

Despite the precise choreography a few of the tour members were slipped into the fray. Tim and James backed up their boogieing at the park earlier:

Miss Jong explained that the participants were university students, and pointed out how none of the ladies had hair longer than jaw length. This was mandatory for all female university attendees.

It was raining persistently throughout the dance, but the show continued on. Perhaps it was the weather but the students did not particularly seem like they were enjoying themselves. Ask me and Tim offline about the atmosphere at the mass dance.