This place looks like a circus, with a DJ excitedly working the crowd and music blaring. But this is a taekwondo performance called Show Taekwon, a live show performed by K Tigers.

The January 23 performance of K Tigers at the jam-packed Sejong Center for the Performing Arts won rave reviews and roaring audience response. Taekwondo movements called poomsae and techniques like kicks and sparring were combined with music, dance, and a narrative to bring about an impressive production.

- Taekwondo’s disciplined moves are well combined with dance and music. It was really fun, like watching a show. I thought of taekwondo more as a sport, but after seeing this performance, I realized that it can make a good performance.
- Seeing two people sparring, I realized that taekwondo has become a sport that anybody can enjoy. It was awesome to see taekwondo practitioners soar into the air to break pine boards with their feet. I even wanted to learn taekwondo.

As of 2013, roughly 12 thousand taekwondo studios are doing business all over Korea, comprising the largest martial art group. Taekwondo is undisputedly the most iconic martial art of Korea, but taekwondo is now undergoing a transformation as a discipline of performing arts.

The Korean cultural performance hall in Seoul’s Olympic Park is hosting a taekwondo performance titled “Tal,” the Korean word for a mask. This multidisciplinary production merged Korea’s signature cultural contents – taekwondo, percussion, B-boying, and traditional dance – to create a complete package of cultural experiences. Here’s Tal’s executive director Choi So-ri.

Taekwondo is Korea’s most well-known martial art and sport. I attempted to mix this with traditional dance, percussion music, and b-boy dance to create a new cultural content. Before “Tal,” there was a similar production called “Arirang Party,” and I used to tour as a solo percussionist around the globe. Foreign producers would ask me why there were no productions that made use of Korea’s signature cultural genres like taekwondo, dance, samulnori, and percussion. So I came up with the idea for this production, to please foreign audiences. I planned the performance ten years ago and have been presenting it for four years now.

Made to globalize taekwondo, the production “Tal” includes first-rate taekwondo practitioners, as well as top dancers and B-boys. But it took some time for these performers to understand one another and meld together. Here’s director Choi So-ri of the production “Tal.”

Since their specialties were so different, it took them five years to come to an understanding. Traditional dancers, taekwondo practitioners, B-boys, samulnori band members, and everyone else had a hard time at first. But once they came to understand one another, everything just clicked.

The story of “Tal” is about how a greedy human steals a mask with godly powers and abuses its power to plunge the world into chaos. Taking pity on the suffering humans, gods send taekwondo artists to take back the mask. The production is titled “Tal,” because actors wear masks representing their characters. Here’s Jeong Kyeong-won of SR Group Entertainment, the producer of “Tal.”

The title “Tal” has a symbolic meaning. The masks represent different characters involved in the clash between good and evil over a mask with absolute power. The story contains love, hatred, reconciliation, and wit. Masks are a prop that conveys those elements.

The performance begins with the impressively disciplined movements of taekwondo, known as poomsae. Following the taekwondo segment is an electrifying dance performance of B-boys.

B-boy dancers represent ogres, a personification of human greed. Their wrongful desire plunges the world into chaos.

Restoring order back to a chaotic world is an energetic percussion performance. When the fire-themed drum segment crests, taekwondo artists punctuate the performance with their skillful and precise moves.

This is the scene where evil is vanquished!

Taekwondo sparring takes place to the drum beat. When various close combat moves, punches, and kicks are performed against the powerful rhythm of the drums, the whole scene looks like a battle of the immortals. After evil has been defeated, the mortal world sees a gentle dance number composed of taekwondo and Korean traditional dance. Traditional dancers use the taekwondo belts as props to complete their elegant routine.

The highlight of the production is its final scene, in which all the cast members appear on the stage to show their best to a modern version of Korea’s most famous folk song, Arirang. Here’s director Choi So-ri to explain more.



The final Arirang scene is where each team shows off its best skills to the throbbing percussion music. The music is called “Arirang of Destiny,” a new interpretation of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Arirang. Actors each do what they do best at the curtain call.

For about 90 minutes the audience has been immersed in Korea’s signature cultural contents, from taekwondo and B-boying to Korean traditional dance and percussion performance. They seem totally overwhelmed by all the sensory inputs even to stand up.

- It gave me goose bumps. They jumped so high. I was really impressed by taekwondo moves.
- My children are learning taekwondo right now, so the taekwondo performance was very memorable. I thought breaking pine boards was all there is to it, but I realized that it combined well with other art genres.

Actors in the production “Tal” themselves found taekwondo more attractive. Here’s B-boy dancer Jeong Min-hyeok and traditional dancer Kang Su-hyeon.

- I thought taekwondo was nothing special, just a sport that gives out belts for merely mimicking the moves. But now I realize that taekwondo is a sport of power and discipline.
- Taekwondo is most impressive when hundreds of people do the moves in unison. Breaking pine boards is exciting to see, but all those people moving as one is really thrilling. I got shivers from hearing their shouts.

Prior to its local showings, the production “Tal” had toured the world for two years as a hallyu product. It is not surprising that this mixture of Korea’s four major cultural contents won rave reviews abroad. Here’s its director Choi So-ri again.

We performed overseas first, because I was curious to see how the production would appeal to foreign audiences. I was confident about local responses, but didn’t know what to expect from foreigners. We toured more than 25 countries, performing in more than 30 theaters. Every performance was sold out and we always got standing ovations. I think the audiences were overjoyed to see four different contents in an hour and a half.

Inspired by such outstanding results overseas, the Korean government has opened K-Art Hall inside Olympic Park solely to promote multidisciplinary productions with Korean themes. The three-story building measures more than 2,600 square meters in area, with the main theater featuring a balcony, providing a better view of the stage.

If the production “Tal” is a mix-and-match with an emphasis on taekwondo, Show Taekwondo performed by the taekwondo performance team of K Tigers features a flashier version of the martial art. Here’s K Tigers leader Ahn Hak-seon, who has been in charge of the team for 20 years.

We strive to inform the public about the culture of taekwondo. What’s so special about us is that we change the contents of our demonstrations to fit the change of times. So our shows are always new and different. Nowadays Korean pop music is hot, so we incorporate that into our show and make the experience more enjoyable for the audiences.

The performances of K Tigers contain more circus-like elements. Performers fly through the air to break pine boards and crush layers of bricks, eliciting gasps and cheers from the audience.

The audience is held in awe when dozens of taekwondo practitioners break boards in sequence. The shows also incorporate social issues such as school bullying to draw people’s attention.

As if to express his commitment to fight school violence, the actor who plays a bullied student executes a flip and a high jump to split a pine board held three persons high.

There are dangerous moments during the show, but K Tigers members fear nothing when doing taekwondo moves. Here’s K Tiger actor Yi Rang.

Taekwondo has so many moves. Before I used to practice only poomsae and other moves, but now that productions incorporate dance, gymnastics, extreme martial arts, and what not, I have to practice many different movements. There is no end to it. It’s like entering a new world. That’s why I can’t stop practicing taekwondo.

In the 1960s taekwondo masters started teaching the martial art in other parts of the world. It has become a global sport worthy of its spot as an official Olympic event. Now it is undergoing another transformation, aiming to win an even wider audience.