As autumn deepens, a mountain village in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, will fill with drumbeats and dancing for three days in October. The 2026 Dance Meditation Festival and Gensing, hosted jointly by the School of the Body and Village Artists, will run from Hangul Day on Oct. 9 through Oct. 11 at the Cultural Classroom in Oeseo-myeon, Sangju.
Instead of fighting, move toward the center: The festival's central theme
This year's theme is “Into the Eye of the Storm (Jump In The Center).” In its invitation, the organizing committee compared an era swept by anxiety, lethargy, anger and fear to a typhoon. The message is to leap into its still center, because the more people resist and fight, the harder it becomes to escape. The view that humans are both the most physical and the most spiritual of beings runs through the entire program.
A two-day, one-night journey to open the body: The Dance Meditation Festival
Program A, the Dance Meditation Festival, begins at 1 p.m. on Oct. 9 and ends at 1 p.m. on Oct. 10. The first day's opening segment features “Ta-eum (BURN),” a tightrope performance by circus artist Ahn Jae-hyun. A drum circle with 100 drums, “Dancing Talk,” a nervous-system movement game that loosens the body and connects the mind, and the dynamic meditation “9 Waves” will follow in sequence.
The second segment features “The Child of Light, Blessing Again,” an object theater piece based on a folk tale from Sangju's Beoreumbaemi Village. It brings to the stage a ritual of welcome that receives the smallest being back into the embrace of the community. The following morning's closing performance will combine the Sufi whirling dance meditation “Into the Eye of the Storm” with seungmu, or Buddhist monk dance, and large-drum performances.
A Gensing workshop confronting trauma and family
Program B, the “Gensing Family Constellations Workshop,” runs from 3 p.m. on Oct. 10, after the festival ends, until 2 p.m. on Oct. 11. A quote from Carl Jung serves as its guiding premise: “If you do not make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
The workshop begins by examining the unconscious and systems through Movement Constellations, followed by three sessions on the interplay of somatic perception, trauma and karma. Participants' own life concerns—from everyday difficulties to family and romantic relationships, illness, work and career paths—will provide the material. Enrollment is limited to 20 people and is open only to festival participants.
The people who will fill the stage
The program will be led by Kim Yong-ryang, head of the School of the Body and a family-constellation training supervisor. Joining Kim will be Lee Young-yong, music director for West African Baratan and president of the Korean Drum Circle Association; Jeong Ki-bok, a large-drum performer and somatic educator; and Kang Yoon-hee, a seungmu performer and TRE provider. Ten members of the School of the Body team and Sangju's local Village Artists team will also take the stage.
The Dance Meditation Festival is a signature program developed by the School of the Body. In 2018, it was held at the foot of Mount Jiri, presenting a format that brought music, dance and meditation together.
Participant information
Dates: Oct. 9, 2026 (Friday)-Oct. 11, 2026 (Sunday)
Location: Cultural Classroom, 55-1 Gagok-ri, Oeseo-myeon, Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province
Hosted by: School of the Body, Village Artists
Registration: https://forms.gle/85RPcdNBiD9QodiW7