This study seeks to interpret how femininity is revealed in Seung-hee Choi’s dancing body and how it was expressed in daily life at a time when patriarchy and the concept of the “new woman” collided. In early modern dance and in later works of Korean traditional material and Oriental images, we see aspects of bold, dignified women. These reveal a feminism that conforms to established male ideals and challenges classical femininity. In contrast, Seung-hee Choi practiced a progressive to her life and to marriage. The romantic relationship she shared with her husband was not like those of radical feminists. Instead, the couple forged a modern marriage that linked them as a mental partner and a mentor of life. The tendency of her work was also affected by her husband, so she created dance of proletarian tendency and then developed Korean dance. Seung-hee Choi succeeded at both her career and marriage. Seung-hee Choi was also a celebrity in her time for emphasizing femininity through her fashion. She retained her bob style hair and wore Western clothes indoors and out. The hats, coats, dresses, clutches, and shoes that she wore were carefully chosen to coordinate with the Art Déco style then in vogue in Paris and the U.S. This form of fashion reveals a graceful, sophisticated, and self-assured femininity.

This study traced Choi Seung-hee’s dancing career in Europe and the Americas between 1937 and 1940. Choi is recognized as a pioneer who built the foundation of modern Korean dance. Called “the dancer of the peninsular” and very popular in Korea and Japan, the celebrated dancer extended her career to Europe with the ambitious mission to introduce Joseon dance to an international audience in the late 1930s. As the Japanese novelist Yasunari Kawabata put it, her dance was powerful and based on her ethnic roots, which became representative of her as a dancer. Meanwhile, most Korean intellectuals criticized her dance for failing to fully express their nation’s identity; this was because it was a mix of Western-style and traditional Korean techniques. Despite this criticism, her dance proved itself to be fascinating enough to attract an international audience, presenting the uniqueness of an ethnic culture in a dignified and fresh way. It also suggested that the legendary dancer’s work carries significance in that it created a new value system with a blend of globalization, locality, and democratic elements.

The emergence of “new dance” is considered an important event in history of Joseon folk dance, from the ancient times driven by slavery through modern times. Choi Seung-hee was a pioneer of “new dance” and leader in “new dance” in Asia. In addition, she was a great contributor to change and development of Joseon folk dance and had great impact on development of oriental dance as well. In this paper, I studied Choi’s identity and her body, her performance, logics of her performance, and her performance notion, and her revelation which drove her to be dedicated to folk dance. This study analyzed Choi’s dance in three categories of identity, language, and revelation. In the category of identity, three subjects of janggyeong (場景) and identification, Choi’s identity, and her body were discussed. janggyeong (場景) is a concept I used to study dancing phenomena in different scenes. The word is a combination of jang (場), meaning space and gyeong (景), meaning sight. Therefore, the word refers to sight of a person doing something in a space, which naturally comprises elements of person, work, time, and space. When space, a person, and work exist at the same time, space is confined to work and a person’s identity is defined as work he is doing, and work is a determinant of the person’s identity. Choi Seung-hee was engaged in dance and related work in her whole life. This gave her multiple identities aside from a dancer. In the beginning, for example, she was a dancing learner and a person expressing things through dance, and when starting to create work, she was a creator of art work and finally she was a dancing educator, researcher, and manager. She obtained some of them simultaneously while others one by one over a long period of time. From the viewpoint of cultural and institutional norms, her identities represented a unity of Western and Eastern cultures, a unity of Western and Eastern dance, and a unity of traditional and modern dance. Despite this, her movement, as a dancer, stood for Joseon folks and modernity. In the language category, three subjects such as performance, performance logics and performance notions were discussed as a dancing language. For dancers, language means performance and Choi’s performance mainly concerned creating work of Joseon folk dance and developing teaching materials. Language is the logic of social activity and for dancers, it becomes the grammar of dance performance. The grammar served as the underlying basis of Choi’s work creation and developing teaching materials and the means of language turned into teaching materials for Joseon folks. The way the language was used became how Joseon folk dance was formed. Based on this, I concluded that Choi Seung-hee’s performance of Joseon folk dance and her teaching materials can be defined as use of a Western system by Joseon folk. Language is a concept and idea associated with social activity. Choi’s dance encompassed ideas of nation, people, creating new things and openness. The category of revelation detailed the great dancer’s revelation to development of Joseon folk dance, which concerned respect for fellow people, self-awakening, no fear of creating new things, and open-mindedness.

Rooted in British sociologist Anthony Giddens’s description of modernity as a historical and cultural space that is “in various key respects discontinuous with the gamut of pre-modern cultures and ways of life”, this study seeks to contextualize Ch’oe Sŭng-hŭi’s life and legacy in relation to evolving ideas of modernity. Here I continue my concern with Ch’oe’s actual dancing. I first lay a foundation for moving forward by summarizing related previous findings. I then look at Ch’oe’s emerging aesthetic philosophy and artistic development in relation to modernity as it was becoming defined in dance in Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. I conclude that it was the diverse philosophies underlying the kids of dance with which Ch’oe became engaged that in effect gave her permission to develop artistically in the way she did, and that allowed for her changing embodiment of Korean modernity during the 1920s and 1930s.

This study is an analysis of dance critics' way of writing to make the general public appropriate images. Thus, this study aims to identify the images in writings inferred by readers; this study investigates the factors of aesthetic works by critics who compose images in their writings. In this study, the inference process of images for the interpretation and analysis of works was described by investigating the factors appearing in dance critics' writings on their impression of the works. By describing a critic's way of writing, which is shown in the critique on the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company's , the components and meaning of image inference in the work were examined. The study found that the trends in the form of the aesthetic work from critics' appreciation could be summarized as generalization and the universalization. It could be seen that the generalization acted as the basis of a basic judgement for the quality of the work, which appeared through understanding the subject and themes of the work. The universalization presented image refinement of inference for the analysis with technical requirements for aesthetic characteristics, form, social and philosophical structure, thoughts and ideas, and artistry. The critics writing on works has an open attitude to possess a convergent direction of interpretation as a progressive form against the abstractness appearing in the art of human society. However, it could be seen that the functional descriptions of artworks were presented to readers as as an association process of image inference in a censored form (which is generalization and universalization) in order to identify human society as cultural, social, and historical forms.

Han Sung Jun has been recognized as an extraordinary figure who collected traditional Korean dances and laid a foundation for systematic transmission during the late Chosun Dynasty and Japanese colonial period. Due to his significance, there have been ample researches in the past. However, there seemed to be some rooms for re-examination within the cultural contexts. The purpose of this study was to re-examine Han Sung Jun’s dance works, more specifically his social awareness as well as his dance perspective. Archives of his direct interviews were utilized for this task. Han Sung Jun, as an artist who experienced both feudal and colonial times, considered his life as a ‘shame.’ Based on this notion, he maintained his cultural identity during the abrupt changing times from the West dignity and accepted his fateful mission on traditional dance. Han Sung Jun focused on the principles of dance with open mindedness and holistic thoughts. Han Sung Jun’s three major dance works, ‘Seung Mu’, ‘Tae Pyung Mu’, and ‘Salpuri Chum’, were analyzed for better understanding using historical sources and Han Sung Jun’s thought. ‘Seung Mu’ was not just a form of religious dance but the crux of traditional dance cementing several cultures and ideologies. ‘Tae Pyung Mu’ could be viewed not only a dance for peaceful time and strong reign, but a dance for just society where all people were treated equal and lived an harmonious community. Lastly, ‘Salpuri Chum’ had the most liberal form and reflected the dancer’s emotion and could be regarded as the dance form with open possibilities.

This study aims to examine the contemporaneity of performance archive and reconsider the historicality of dance, focusing on practice and theory in contemporary dance. For this, I explored theories and discourses that arose in contemporary arts, and I have analyzed the cases of archive practice. Over past two decades, choreographers in contemporary dance have experimented contemporaneity and history through archive practice. This study focuses on historical concepts of archive in order to find the meaning of the choreographer’s re-enactment. In this study, I refer to Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault’s proposal on history and archive to construct the theoretical frame of this study. “Actuality” in Walter Benjamin’s philosophy is heterogeneous time modes of the past and the present in singular moments, and it presents reality. Foucault suggests archive as a system of transformation and severance. He exceeds common perception of linear history with an archeological approach. To examine how choreographers apply archive to their work in a level of choreography and body as medium of dance, I have chosen the works of two choreographer: Yvonne Rainer and Boris Charmatz. Rainer uses the methods of “repetition” and “representation”, which transmit from one body to others in her . She suggests performative archiving to produce new creations in the process of returning to the original. Charmatz writes new history, which is established between dance history and a dancer’s memories in the present time. They both emphasized that a body is the subject of both dance and real life because every segment of history inhabits the body. Therefore, there are no distinctions between archive and body in dance. In this study, I discuss performance archive being toward embodied actualization with the choreographic approach. Performance archive is not only a form or style of dance but also questions, engagement, relationships, and enactment of the objectivity and subjectivity of dance. In this light, the choreographic is the way to create both dance and history.

This study analyzed traditional dance scenes in historical dramas and related internet articles in order to understand their contents and characteristics, assuming that contemporary media discourse has contributed to the production of traditional dance images. The subjects of the study are the traditional dance scenes from eight historical TV dramas, which were broadcasted in 2016: , , , , , , , and related articles posted on the news category of the portal website Naver. The study showed that the image of a traditional dance appearing in the traditional dance scenes was portrayed as a beautiful, mysterious, or powerful means of tempting viewers. Most of young, female main actors played the dancers, and the close-up shots focused on the performers' faces. The types of traditional dances exposed to the dramas and the appearance of their movements were not appropriate for the historical conditions, such as the background of the dramas or the status of the characters. In addition, the fact that the gender and status of the performers were confined to female dancers or female shamans could not go beyond the historical fact at all. In the content analysis of the internet articles, it was found that the names of traditional dances were not based on professional knowledge. It was also found that, when describing traditional dances and performers, similar expressions were used despite the different types of dances and narrative situations in each scene. This is related to the fact that the contents of the internet articles were provided by the agency of the female entertainers who played the actors and filtered through the portal site, rather than reflecting the intention of the drama's producer or entertainment media reporters. In other words, the internet articles promoting the traditional dance scenes were written as a means to increase the popularity of entertainers. Therefore, it should be noted that this bears many problems when propagated to the public as a traditional dance discourse. This study is significant, revealing the image of “dance”, “dancer”, and “dancing woman” in and out of the dance system by revealing the image of traditional dance produced by contemporary media and media discourse. Finally, it is hoped that this study can contribute to generalizing the images related to dance and preventing the excessive prejudice over dance.

This study aimed to examine the transmission pattern of Kim Su-ak’s Traditional Dance and its artistic significance. Jinju Gyobang Dance refers to the dance handed down mainly through unique culture and Gyobang of the Jinju region. Representative Jinju Gyobang Dances include the Gutgeori Dance of Jinju Gyobang, Gueum Geommu, and Nongae Salpuri Dance. These dances were compiled by Kim Su-ak and then handed down mainly through Gyobang of Jinju and Seoul. This study examined the transmission pattern of Kim Su-ak’s Traditional Dance. In particular, it summarized three dance notations based on Seoul gyobang and looked into its expanding process through interviews with Kim Gyeong-ran, the assistant instructor of Kim Su-ak's dances. Jinju Gyobang Dance has not remained traditional. It has expanded from its traditional form, constantly giving pleasure to the public. This has been possible because it has increased its artistic value by creating a narrative structure through the perception of theater and space while retaining its original cultural form. This study showed that the value of Kim Su-ak’s Traditional Dance has been created by the transformation into the genre, which actively communicates with reality while faithfully keeping its original aesthetics and significance, and by the work to seek and build various methodologies. This can be explained by the specification of the original form and expansion into various themes through on the spot performances. This transformation into performing arts constitutes an important opportunity to explain works while presenting the direction of life to the public.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the realistic characteristics of Grotesques Realism in the Songpa Sandae Play, which is one of the Korean mask dancing, by applying Bakhtin's theory. In particular, this study analyzes focusing on interpreting the components of the dancing body as the meaning of "becoming“ The section III analyzes the components of the body, dance, props such as the mask and a doll, the accompanied music, and spatial structure with the framework identified in the discussion on Grotesque Realism. Ultimately, the essence of the grotesque realism of the Songpa Sandae play is to interpret the performer as a leading figure in generating the people's laughter and creating the people culture. Therefore, the study on dance of mask dance that cannot exist beyond the body of the performer needs to be treated with special importance.