Andong International Mask Dance Festival
🗓️ 2026.09.24 ~ 2026.10.04
The Andong International Mask Dance Festival is a global festival that brings mask dance traditions from Korea and around the world into one festival site. Korean mask dance, listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is presented alongside mask dance performances by overseas troupes. The 2026 festival is designed to connect the time preserved in masks with present-day life, and to make those traditions accessible to everyone—from local residents to international visitors.
Rather than being purely stage-based, the festival turns the grounds into a participatory space. Visitors can watch a wide range of performances, take part in parades and the Daedong Nanjang (grand feast), follow the World Maskdance Competition, or try hands-on activities like mask making and learning a mask dance. The program includes performances, competitions, and food, making it possible for families, first-time visitors, and longtime enthusiasts to find their own way into the festival.
From children to the elderly, and from local residents to visitors from around the world, the moments when everyone laughs, claps, and shares rhythms in the same space turn the memories carried by masks into living culture. The festival is, in that sense, a “dance for everyone”—made complete by the people who gather, share the same rhythm, and turn a performance into a communal experience.
Program highlights
- Domestic and international maskdance performances — Including domestic mask dance groups listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (“Korean Mask Dance”) and overseas mask dance performance groups.
- Madang-geuk (traditional outdoor play) & creative plays, mask dance troupe performances
- Competition events — Including the World Maskdance Competition, Mask Talent, World Creative Mask Contest, and Mask Dance Drawing Contest.
- Citizen participation events — Including Daedong Nanjang and street parades.
- Experiential programs — Including mask making and learning mask dance.
- Festival food — A chance to experience both the mask dance festival and Andong through its cuisine.
Visitor information
đź“Ť Address: 239 Yuksa-ro, Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (Unheung-dong)
🛏️ Accommodations near the event
đź’° Fee: Free (Some experiential programs and performances at the mask dance performance hall have a fee)
đź“ž Inquiry: 054-840-3400
🖥️ Website: www.maskdance.com
The Andong Mask Dance, formally known as Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, is a Korean mask dance drama from Hahoe Village in Andong. It developed over centuries as part of village rituals intended to appease gods and ancestral spirits, pray for good harvests, and strengthen community ties. It also served as social commentary. Through humor, satire, and dialogue, performers used stock characters to parody the aristocracy and clergy, and to represent ordinary people’s lives. The wooden masks, traditionally carved from alder, distinguish each character by expression and shape; they include the nobleman, the monk, the bride, and the servant.
UNESCO inscribed Talchum, the broader Korean mask dance tradition, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022. The Andong Mask Dance is one of the tradition’s most historically significant and well-documented forms. Its inscription recognizes the practice’s cultural role rather than only its artistic value. The dance is still performed by community members, taught across generations, and adapted over time. UNESCO’s criteria emphasize dialogue, social cohesion, and mutual respect—qualities the performance has carried since its origins. The Andong International Mask Dance Festival, scheduled for 2026, will present the dance as part of this continuing tradition, along with related performances and programs.
