Tuesday nights on Homo Hill are decidedly tame. In stark contrast to the excitement of its weekends, weekdays on this small hillside in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood, named after its heavy concentration of LGBTQ+ nightlife, can be almost quaint: the neon lights that beckon passerby into its bars, cafés, and nightclubs are shut off, and the revelers that crowd its narrow streets and sidewalks are nowhere to be found. Yet this belies the fact that this section of South Korea’s capital city is the country’s epicenter of LGBTQ+ nightlife.
Like every Tuesday night, it’s here where Mini Han, who co-owns one of Korea’s hottest gay clubs, Trunk, rehearses the drag shows and routines that her team of performers puts on every weekend. This Tuesday’s walkthrough is especially important: next week marks the Lunar New Year, one of the country’s most important holidays, and Han has decided to include an opening act featuring a daegeum, or a traditional Korean flute, a performance never before seen at the club.
“During show time, to hear a flute being played hits you so warmly,” Han says.
The performance will be a major deviation from Trunk’s usual weekend lip syncs, but this commitment to variety and surprise is what consistently packs the house for Trunk’s weekend shows. Much of the credit for that is due to Han, whose planning and booking for these performances has been much of what catapulted Trunk to success. Read more via them.