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"Mass
Games are the most amazing man-made choreographed spectacle
you can witness... definitely
the
sight
of a lifetime" |
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Please click here for a guide to the seating and ticket prices at the mass games.
MASS GAMES
2008
The latest news from Pyongyang (April 2008) is that the mass games will
be held from August 4th to the end of September. These
dates
have
not
yet
been confirmed and it is normal for them to be altered as the event draws
closer - we expect the actual run of the games to go on into October
so please keep checking
the website for updates.
This year’s Mass Games have been expanded to include two different events, both staged in Pyongyang’s May Day stadium with a full compliment of 100,000 performers. Running from August 4th until the end of September every Tuesday and Thursday will see a 100 minute afternoon performance of an all-new Mass Games show named ‘Prosper the Motherland!’ staged specially for the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK (9th September). The classic ‘Arirang’ - an 80 minute gymnastic and socialist realism extravaganza - will be performed every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening.
What are Mass Games?....in a nutshell:
The Mass Games organisers state that 'Juche orientated mass gymnastics of Korea originated from Flower Gymnastics, a work by President Kim Il Sung created in 1930, the early days of his anti Japanese revolutionary struggles'. 1961 marked the fist truly Korean style Mass Gymnastics piece with the catchy title of 'The Era of the Workers' Party'. Today, Mass Gymnastics represents 'the ideological theme of the history of the country and nation splendidly through combination of gymnastic formations, backdrops involving tens of thousands of people and music'. The original aims were to train the people's physique but this led into a form of gymnastic art, 'the ideological theme promotes social development and it trains not only the people's physiques but also their spiritual power'.
Unlike a sports competition, where the athletes compete for a prize, the mass gymnastics of Korea brings 'pleasure and satisfaction to the performers as well as to the audience and instils in their hearts hope for the future'.
As Kim Jong Il pointed out in a meeting with the mass gymnastics organisers in 1987 'the Korean style of mass gymnastics is a mixed form of comprehensive physical exercises with a combination of high ideological content, artistic quality and gymnastics skill'.
Mass games:
Preparations are visible on the streets of Pyongyang well in advance of the mass games with tens of thousands of gymnasts preparing their routines in the cities opens spaces and parks. The 2007 performance will be entitled 'Arirang' based on a historic tragic love story but will be adapted to represent the struggle of North Korea during the Japanese occupation and Korean War. Students have been practicing every day since January 2006 but the floods in late July meant the event was cancelled. The 90 minute performance which will be held every evening at 7pm will feature the 'largest picture in the world' a giant mosaic of individual students each holding a book whose page links with their neighbours to make up one gigantic scene. When the students turn the pages the scene or individual elements of the scene change, up to 170 pages make up one book.
Because of the success of the film on the Mass Games 'A
State of Mind' (Koryo Tours, VeryMuchSo productions and BBC4) their experience in running tours since 1993, and day to day contact with the mass games organising
committee Koryo Tours has the best access for the event. 'A State of Mind' has been broadcast
in both North and South Korea and won the 2004 Pyongyang Film Festival
Special Prize and best film music award as well as various international awards and is currently on worldwide release.
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'Developing mass gymnastics is important in training children to be fully developed communist people, to be fully developed communist man, one must acquire a revolutionary ideology, the knowledge of many fields, rich cultural attainments and a healthy and strong physique. These are the basic qualities required of a man of the communist type. Mass gymnastics play an important role in training schoolchildren to acquire these communist qualities. Mass gymnastics foster particularly healthy and strong physiques, a high degree of organization, discipline and collectivism in schoolchildren, The schoolchildren, conscious that a single slip in their action may spoil their mass gymnastic performance, make every effort to subordinate all their thoughts and actions to the collective.' On Further Developing Mass Gymnastics. Talk to mass Gymnastics Producers. April 11th 1987 Kim Jong Il |
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Guide to the seating at the mass games performance and ticket prices: Tickets are purchased on the spot in Pyongyang, please do not send money to us in advance. |
