Wearing colourful costumes and wonderful masks, artists from theRepublic of Korea (RoK) thrilled Vietnamese audience with performancesof a traditional dance, Talchum, on August 16 to mark the nation'sculture week at the Vietnam Women's Museum.

Made from wood, pasteboard, feathers and dried gourds, the masks reflect the faces of people, gods and animals.

Throughmasks and dance, the artists told tales relating to life and productionand sent messages to the gods for prosperity and happiness.

Fourteenartists from Jeju Doorunanum folklore art troupe also performed Pungmul(peasants' dance), which is often performed in spring.

For sevendays, visitors will get the chance to learn about the dances through anindoor exhibition of photos, musical instruments, costumes, masks andprops. Musicians will also offer dance and drum lessons.

Visitors can also learn how to make masks and try on Korean costumes.

Duringthe festival, visitors can try Korean food such as kimchi, gimbab (ricerolled with beef and vegetables) and tokbokki (made from soft ricecake, fish and sweet red chilli sauce).

"RoK is a developedcountry with a dynamic and modern culture," said Park Nark-jong,director of the Korean Cultural Centre. "We still possess a unique,age-old culture that has been developed over thousands of years."

"ModernRoK culture, such as K-pop, is wildly popular with young Vietnamese,but this is the first time traditional culture has been performed on alarge scale," said Park.

"We are not professional artists, we areordinary Koreans, that's the reason why I think we can communicateeasily with Vietnamese people and share our heritage," leader of thetroupe Shim Kyo-ho said.

The RoK Culture Week is ongoing at the Vietnam Women's Museum, 36 Ly Thuong Kiet street, Hanoi until August 23.-VNA