Breaking News !!
After a one-year break, the world-renowned Arirang Mass Games are back !
While mass games have been performed since the 1940s in the DPRK, the Arirang show is the largest and most impressive they have ever produced. Born in 2002, since 2007 it has been an annual event, and the 2015 edition will be the most spectacular yet !
Combining dance, gymnastics, propaganda, politics, music, and even uni-cycling, this spectacular performance chronicles the struggles of the Korean people suffering under Japanese occupation, moving into the independent era and building a modern country - basically the period linked to the first 100 years since the birth of North Korea's Eternal President Kim Il Sung.
However, since 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Japanese occupation and the founding of the Korean Workers' Party, it is reported that organisers are planning a whole new performance for 2015 - for more news on this, please revisit this site regularly !
So if you haven't seen Arirang yet, or if you want to see them one more time, this is your chance. Don't miss out on the biggest performance in the world - an event that makes any Olympic opening ceremony look like a school play ! Staged at the massive May Day stadium in Pyongyang, Arirang is running from August 1st to September 9th, 2015, but as with the last few years we do expect an extension, perhaps as far as the middle of October (usually it finally ends around Oct 17th).
So, do not miss out on this opportunity to see this great show. Our August program gives you one, and if wanted even two chances to witness the Arirang Mass Games live ! Sign up soon !
While mass games have been performed since the 1940s in the DPRK, the Arirang show is the largest and most impressive they have ever produced. Born in 2002, since 2007 it has been an annual event, and the 2015 edition will be the most spectacular yet !
Combining dance, gymnastics, propaganda, politics, music, and even uni-cycling, this spectacular performance chronicles the struggles of the Korean people suffering under Japanese occupation, moving into the independent era and building a modern country - basically the period linked to the first 100 years since the birth of North Korea's Eternal President Kim Il Sung.
However, since 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Japanese occupation and the founding of the Korean Workers' Party, it is reported that organisers are planning a whole new performance for 2015 - for more news on this, please revisit this site regularly !
So if you haven't seen Arirang yet, or if you want to see them one more time, this is your chance. Don't miss out on the biggest performance in the world - an event that makes any Olympic opening ceremony look like a school play ! Staged at the massive May Day stadium in Pyongyang, Arirang is running from August 1st to September 9th, 2015, but as with the last few years we do expect an extension, perhaps as far as the middle of October (usually it finally ends around Oct 17th).
So, do not miss out on this opportunity to see this great show. Our August program gives you one, and if wanted even two chances to witness the Arirang Mass Games live ! Sign up soon !
Simply ... the greatest show on Earth !
The Arirang Mass Games can basically be described as a synchronized socialist-realist spectacular, featuring over 100,000 participants in a 90 minute display of gymnastics, dance, acrobatics, and dramatic performance, accompanied by music and other effects, all wrapped in a highly politicized package. Literally no other place on Earth has anything comparable and it has to be seen with your own eyes to truly appreciate the scale on display.
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 games is not merely a visual spectacular, through the training and performance of the games '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 instills in their hearts hope for the future'.
As Leader 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'.
Below you find two links to videoclips from the 2011 Arirang Mass Games. Click on further links on the Passwordforgetter channel on YouTube to see the whole show. Or even better, join one of our August tours and witness this incredible spectacle with your own eyes !
* Please note that the Arirang Mass Games take place each year from early August until around October.
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 games is not merely a visual spectacular, through the training and performance of the games '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 instills in their hearts hope for the future'.
As Leader 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'.
Below you find two links to videoclips from the 2011 Arirang Mass Games. Click on further links on the Passwordforgetter channel on YouTube to see the whole show. Or even better, join one of our August tours and witness this incredible spectacle with your own eyes !
* Please note that the Arirang Mass Games take place each year from early August until around October.