- Decentralized venues across downtown and Samgeori Park… Shifting from ‘watching dance’ to ‘experiencing dance firsthand’

Transcending South Korea to leap onto the global stage, the global dance competition festival, the ‘Cheonan Heungttaryung Dance Festival 2026’, kicked off its five-day dance extravaganza with an opening ceremony held at the Cheonan Stadium on the 1st.

Marking its 22nd anniversary this year, the festival is held under the slogan ‘All that Dance in Cheonan’, hosted and organized by the Cheonan Cultural Foundation, and sponsored by Cheonan City, Chungcheongnam-do, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Federation of International Dance Festivals (FIDAF).

The event will run through the 5th across the Cheonan Stadium, downtown Shinbu-dong, and the Cheonan Samgeori Park area. This year, the festival has decentralized its spaces to include Cheonan Samgeori Park, operating specialized programs concurrently starting from the 3rd.

The opening ceremony, held at the main stage of Cheonan Stadium on the evening of the 1st, signaled the start of the festival with a pre-opening performance by Gachon University’s Apeiron, the 2025 University Cheering Grand Prize winner, followed by a national entry parade of overseas dance troupes from 24 countries.

Following the opening declaration by Cheonan Mayor Jang Ki-soo, choreographers Aiki, Hyo Jin Choi, and Ri.Hey, along with beatboxer DEZYRE, presented the theme performance ‘Timeless’, which reinterpreted K-POP across generations.

For the celebratory performances, 2AM, Billlie, Jang Han-byeol, Insoonii, and the Lee Seung-gi Band took the stage in turn, followed by an eco-friendly drone light show featuring 1,500 clustered drones decorating the night sky. The opening site was broadcast live worldwide via YouTube.

This year’s festival has decentralized its stages to the heart of downtown and Samgeori Park to ensure a natural flow between viewing and participation, reshaping programs so that audiences can go beyond simply ‘watching dance’ to enjoy ‘experiencing dance firsthand’.

In the 550m section of downtown Shinbu-dong, the ‘Street Dance Parade’ featuring 4,000 participants across 40 teams and the preliminary event ‘CIDC Continent Showdown’ will heat up the city center.

At Cheonan Samgeori Park, events will include the youth battle ‘Street Dance Paldo Showdown’, the 1-on-1 battle ‘CIDC 1on1 World Final’, ‘Overseas Team Parade & Neungsojeon’ combined with a mobile madanggeuk (traditional outdoor theater), the children’s project performance ‘Body Escape Research Institute’, and the finals of the ‘National University Cheering Festival’. Newly established auxiliary competitions, such as the Practical Dance Concours and Ballroom Dance Grand Prix, will also be held as citizen-participatory stages.

On the main stage of the main venue, Cheonan Stadium, the ‘International Dance Competition’ featuring 25 teams from 24 countries and the finals for the general and youth divisions of the ‘National Dance Competition’, the nation's largest-scale contest, will take place.

At the indoor tennis court, the ‘CIDC Breaking World Final’, featuring representatives from 16 countries worldwide, and the e-sports rhythm game ‘Pump It Up World Championship’ will be held, alongside the K-EDM party ‘EDM Heung Night’ and an international conference discussing the establishment of global street dance culture.

During the festival period, local agricultural specialty food hubs and food zones will be operated at Cheonan Stadium and Samgeori Park, and four free shuttle bus routes connecting subway stations and the festival grounds will run on a rotation to assist visitors with transportation convenience.

Cheonan Mayor Jang Ki-soo stated, “Celebrating its 22nd year, the Cheonan Heungttaryung Dance Festival has transformed into a participatory festival where visitors can directly experience and enjoy dance through spatial decentralization,” adding, “As a global cultural and arts festival where people from all over the world communicate through dance, we will deliver unforgettable emotions and vitality to everyone who visits Cheonan.”