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REACH Winter Lanterns PLUS: Korea

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The REACH (outdoors) & Terrace Theater

2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566

Free admission for REACH events (Feb. 3-6)

Please note: masks are required in all indoor spaces only and proof of vaccination is required for admission to the Terrace Theater!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. proudly present REACH Winter Lantern PLUS: Korea, a week of Korean cultural events during the Kennedy Center’s annual Lunar New Year Celebration, featuring four days of performance, fashion events, activities, food trucks, giveaways, cultural experiences, and more.

The festivities kick off Thursday, February 3 with Sound of Korean Soul featuring Korean fusion music group G-Hwaja alongside New York-based K-Pop dance troupe I LOVE DANCE in the Terrace Theater at 6:00 p.m. (free tickets required). Visitors can also experience a display of Korean traditional fashion on the River Pavilion (supported by The Korea Craft and Design Foundation), photos with Korean mascot characters, cultural activities, craft kits, and take-home freebies, as well as other daily evening programs through Sunday, February 6.

Family-friendly activities offered throughout the event include fan and mask coloring kits to take home, tattoo stickers, spinning tops and traditional games such as ddakji (as seen on the movie, Squid Game), writing new year wish cards, media wall projections, and more. Sound of Korean Soul will showcase G-Hwaja’s unique brand of Korean creative music that blends Korean traditional instruments like the haegeum, janggu, and gayageum with Western instruments and styles. K-Pop dancers from the acclaimed I LOVE DANCE will also perform and collaborate with G-Hwaja on a selection of their music.

Celebrated in Korea and other countries for countless generations, the Lunar New Year, known as Seollal in Korean, officially falls on February 1 in the year 2022 and is identified as the year of the tiger. Don’t miss out on this exciting four-day holiday event packed full of culture and excitement at the Kennedy Center! For information on other Winter Lanterns PLUS events starting January 27 and for help planning a visit, visit the Kennedy Center's main event website.

Sound of Korean Soul

Opening Performance feat. G-Hwaha and I LOVE DANCE

Thursday, February 3 at 6:00 p.m.

Terrace Theater, The Kennedy Center

Free tickets required (details here)

Masks and proof of vaccination required for admission to this event.

PROGRAM:

Sound of Korean Soul

Sarang-ga (“Love Song”)

Permission to Dance (BTS cover)

Dynamite (BTS cover)

Fly to the Moon

My Love

Amazing Grace & You Raise Me Up

I Miss You (Bum-soo Kim cover)

Libertango

Arirang Medley

Free tickets are required for this Feb. 3 opening performance event and can be reserved via the Kennedy Center event website or on-site the day of the event (if available). Proof of vaccination is required for admission to the Terrace Theater and masks are required at all times for all visitors regardless of vaccination status in all indoor spaces.

REACH Winter Lanterns PLUS: Korea

Thursday, February 3, 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Friday, February 4, 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 5, 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 6, 4:00–9:00 p.m.

ACTIVITIES:

REACH activities (outdoors) are free and no reservations are required. No proof of vaccination or masks are required in the outdoor REACH spaces. This program is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.  

EVENT DETAILS & OVERVIEW

Above two images: I LOVE DANCE members. Photo credit: Korean Cultural Center New York.

About the Performance Groups

G-Hwaja

G-Hwaja performs creative music through a collaboration of Western and Korean traditional instruments, melding disparate tones and styles. The group seeks to express the emotions of the times in a dramatic way by utilizing the uniquely expressive characteristics of Korean traditional music—particularly its sense of excitement known as heung and the bittersweet sense of grief known as han—to deliver familiar music with new emotional dimensions. G-Hwaja strives to popularize Korean traditional music by delivering a dynamic and vivid image of Korea to the modern world.

Junghee Oh | Gayageum & Byeongchang Vocals

Grace Leekyung Kang | Haegeum

You Shin Kim | Composer & Keyboard

Song Eun Shin | Gayageum

Soowan Chung | Guitar

Jason Yoo | Drums

Jennifer Jeon | Violin

Jamon Maple | Vocals

Daseul Kim | Bass

Woosung Jung | Daegeum

Sebastian Wang | Janggu

Dave Tauler | Vocals

For more about all of these featured G-Hwaja performers, see the KCCDC full event listing.

I LOVE DANCE (ILD)

feat. MJ Choi, Ying Dong, DJ McIver, Eunice Shin, Ness Martinez

I LOVE DANCE was founded in 2006 in New York City by lead dancer MJ Choi and has since evolved into one of the region’s most in-demand schools and performance groups, galvanizing K-Pop fans and culture throughout the country. ILD offers K-Pop dance classes in Manhattan, Flushing, and Fort Lee, NJ where classes attract a fun-loving, diverse group of K-Pop fans that share a very special bond. Members meet not only to learn dance but to socialize and embrace each other’s uniqueness within the fast-growing K-Pop fan community. ILD currently has approximately 500 members enrolled in dance classes each month. Beyond offering top notch classes, the organization produces professional K-Pop cover videos, hosts flash mobs, offers dance performances and workshops, and works to serve as an ambassador to spread K-Pop culture in the United States.

To learn more about I LOVE DANCE, visit their website.

Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C.

2370 Massachusetts Ave. NW | Washington, D.C. 20008

culturedc@mofa.go.kr | (202) 939-5688

Visiting Hours: Monday - Friday | 10 am-noon & 1-5 pm

Closed for US and certain Korean national holidays

Guide for Visitors