Welcome to an incredibly overdue post... Well what can I say, this past month has been incredibly busy that I've probably delayed my blog posts by at least a month, and I apologise for that.
Moving on... Within this past month, I've experienced a lot of opportunities, for one, I was able to work at the Kingston Welcomes Korea festival as a volunteer. I found out about this experience online whilst looking for volunteering activities. It was fortunate that I found it as it was very close to home but also referred back to Korean culture which is a field I am particularly interested in.
Well what did this volunteering experience involve? Well, for starters, it all began with promotions. From online promotions on social media to handing out leaflets and posters around my local area.
On the first two days of my volunteering experience, I was assisting at the All Saints Church, where all the musical performances were being held. I got to have a taster of all the different styles of music from traditional Korean music, to old school classical tunes as well as some abstract compositions.
At first I was a bit lost on what to do, I even had to push a piano a few minutes after I walked into the church. But the one thing which got me every time was the amount of Korean people who approached me assuming I spoke Korean, and all I could do was shake my head and say I didn't speak Korean... Although I could of replied with a simple yes or no in Korean I felt that might have just confused them even more... Oh dear.
Another interesting sight I saw was the one cute Korean guy who was surrounded by a bunch of older women, otherwise known as "ajummas" or "아줌마" in Korean. The guy would have one lady requesting for a picture whilst she clung onto his arm, and after she was done, another lady would cling to his arm and request a picture. It was like he was a Korean idol aha.
The next two days, involved me working at the Rose Theatre for the stage performances. Unfortunately, for the second day, I wasn't feeling so well, but the first day although it was around 5-7 hours of volunteering, it was indeed worthwhile in the end. The day begun with constantly handing around leaflets about the show around Kingston. This meant dealing with constant rejections, but also it was rewarding when someone would take a leaflet or even request for one.
For one lady, she even asked me about the shows and how she could get in contact with someone about the show, and I was glad I could be of help to her. Meanwhile another guy, was cycling around on his bike, and returned back to request me for a leaflet which made me smile.
Once all the leaflets were handed out, we were able to sit back and relax, and as a volunteer I was fortunate enough to get a front row seat for the show as well as photograph the show itself. This also included watching the actors warm up before the show.
The show I was watching was called "The Stem, The Bud, The Bloom, The Seed". I was fortunate to be one of the first viewers of the show, as it was the world premiere at the Rose Theatre. The piece is a Anglo-Korean dance and music collaboration,
To quote the Kingston Welcomes Korea brochure it says "This is a new collaborative work that bring together the talents of three well-known theatre artists. Won Il is a leading leading Korean composer, musical performer and director, who has gain a world-wide reputation as a film composer. Jason Piper has an international career as a dancer and choreographer. who has worked with Matthew Borune (notably in the all-male Swan Lake) and Richard Alston. Phillip Parr is a theatre and opera director, who worked in the Glyndebourne and many other opera houses in Europe."
This performance was based on the nature of creation, following the written poem created by John Elsom:
"From the stem, the bud;
From the bud, the bloom;
From the bloom, the seed;
From the seed, the stem."
After working with the Rose Theatre, I proceeded to work at Guildhall for the Green Debate. Unfortunately the participants were pretty disappointing as less people attended than we expected. So my volunteering ended pretty quickly, although I met a lot of lovely people on the way.
As a last gift for my volunteering, I was awarded complimentary tickets to watch a show of my choice. I chose to watch the "Alice in Wonderland" performance by the YMAP (Your Media Arts Project). I was accompanied with my friend, and I have no words. It was honestly it was such an amazing performance I couldn't forgot to take pictures because I was so into the performance. I was so lucky to be able to see this creative performance which incorporated various art styles such as media projection on the screen along with subtitles of course, as well as dance. If by any chance, you get to see YMAP around, I would recommend going to watch one of their stage performances whilst you can, it's not an opportunity to be missed.
Overall, the experience was worthwhile, I'm glad I was able to be given this chance to volunteer with at this festival, and from what I hear, there will be various of other countries in which Kingston will be welcoming in the next years so I look forward to see what they will do next. Thank you to everyone who worked with me and assisted me throughout the festival, I'm honored to have work alongside you all.
