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Chongdong Theater, Seoul is located behind Deoksugung Palace in the centre of Seoul. Away from the regular din and bustle of city life, Chongdong Theater, Seoul is the perfect place for recreation. Apart from the Deoksu Palace, this theater is also surrounded by many other notable museums and itself forms one of the most historically prominent places of Seoul. Set up in 1905, Chongdong Theater, Seoul is a reproduction of Wongaksa. Wongaksa operated from 1908 to 1910 and was the first theater to have exclusively reserved itself for stage plays and traditional operas. Chongdong Theater, Seoul is the sole theater in Korea that is purely devoted to stage performances only. Staging the Korean Traditional Stage performance everyday since 1997 Chongdong Theater, Seoul has successfully kept the traditional Korean arts alive. Through the Korean Traditional Stage the audience of Chongdong Theater, Seoul enjoys the four forms of traditional Korean performing arts-traditional dance, Pung-Mul, So-Ri and musical instrument performance. It marks the 10th anniversary of its opening this year and in this short time has successfully made its name renowned among foreign tourists as well. The Chongdong Theater, Seoul has facilitated the development and promotion of fine arts, the advancement of cultural movement in daily life and the education of youth culture, thus making the Korean culture more stressing among the people. Notable performances include Sanjo Ensembles such as fan dancing and Hwagwanmu (crown dance), traditional music like the Gayageum Harp Byeongchang Performance, as well as the performances of Samulnori. Twice every week it presents special performances of music, dance, and shamanist ritual to attract the crowds. The Chongdong Theater, Seoul has special workshops for foreigners where they can sample Korean food, learn to play the traditional instruments, as well as dress up in the authentic costumes worn by the performers. These special activities take the foreigners to a special part of Korea they may otherwise miss. Government now funds are now available as well which results in weekly shows to the general public. The theater also reaches out to young Korean people by bringing in public school students from all over the country to watch the live show here. Hyung-sik Park, the director of the Chondong Theatre, Seoul, has worked a lot to make this theater a really memorable experience.
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