The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the National Theatre of Korea’s theater repertoire foundation using Dance, Chun-Hyang; Soul, Sunflower; and Hyang-Yeon. The analysis will be performed using the ‘the circulation structures of establishing theater repertories’ method. The results of the analysis are as follows. As a national brand performance, Dance, Chun-Hyang is a National Theatre of Korea’s unique, symbolic, identity establishment contribution. Through the production and casting, as well as extraordinary attempts in casting, various performance techniques are used to successfully achieve feedback system. The National Dance Company of Korea’s steady seller Soul, Sunflower was selected as a National Theatre of Korea’s ‘most wanted to be seen again’ performance by the audience, which can influence the company’s management policy. With its high artistic quality and box-office popularity, the piece shows an exemplary case that satisfy administrative requirements. Hyang-Yeon represents a traditional dances that been modernized. The reinvention and reinterpretation of traditional dance in this piece produce meaningful outcome that would provide the structural foundation of the repertoire. When analyzing works of art, the theater repertoire’s 3 aspects of representativeness, artistic value, and continuity has been seen to aid in ‘policy decisions’, ‘production environment’, and ‘feedback system’ for convergence and divergence.

Oyangseon (五羊仙, Daoist hermits of five sheep) is known as one of the fourteen dances of Dangakjeongjae (唐樂呈才, Chinese court dance). It has been performed since the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) as a royal dance transmitted from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) of China with a background of the Oyang (五羊, Five sheep) legend. The existing research on Oyangseon focuses on the transformation of Oyangseon, production composition, and narrative analysis based on historical materials, though with little examination of symbolic or metaphorical expressions in choreography. Oyangseon is a dance performance based on a folk tale set in Chinese Weo (越) culture. According to W. Eberhart, Weol culture was developed in combination with the Thai culture and the Yao culture. The present study aims to provide an interpretation of Oyangseon based on the motifs and cultural elements of Oyangseon’s tale from a Weol cultural perspective. Oyangseon's tale tells the story of five sheep delivering grain from the holy world to the human world for a good harvest and well-being. Oyangseon can be understood as a work strengthening or renewing royal authority by invoking the relation between spirituality and farming. Jukgan (竹竿, a bamboo pole) is a ritual-offering-object widely used in Chinese palaces and even in the private sector which represents the presence of deity. Meanwhile, the choreography of Jeonjae is same as the Chinese Ubo (禹步). Marcel Granet said Ubo is an expression of the one-legged goblin's walking (movement) in Chinese myth. The goblin can be recognized as the mountain god or mountain god's messenger whose appearance is interpreted as a metaphor of blessing to human world.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of Mu-ui (舞義, ritual of dance) by Seong Gyeong-rin in dance history and its value as Holgi (笏記, scroll document). This study identified the characteristics of the Japanese colonial period Jangsaengboyeonjimu (長生寶宴之舞, Dance of longevity) by comparing the record in Mu-ui to that in Jeongjaemudogholgi (呈才舞蹈笏記, scroll document of court dances). First, the costumes of dancers were five colors, and second, the song Changsha expresses simplification and degraded expression. Third, there was a slight difference in composition at the end. Fourth, in the dance, the order of the nine-sided dance was all the same, so there was no big change, but dance details were added to Mu-ui or little details were recorded. Fifth, there was a change in notation, but most of them had the same meaning or dancing. Those findings indicate that Mu-ui by Seong Gyeong-rin has the following values and significance in the dance history. First, it holds its value as a Holgi of Yiwangjikaakbu (李王 職雅樂部, the downgrated insitution of Jangakwon). Second, it offers information about the changes of court dance by Yiwangjikaakbu during Japanese colonial period. Finally, it enables the reproduction of Yiwangjikaakbu’s court dance by Mu-ui.

This study deals with my autobiographical case study regarding motivation, process and aesthetic experiences that I, a professor in the field of computer education, had involved with creating hooded crane dancing. I collected data related creative performance activities such as photographs, videos, memos, dialogues, and pamphlet materials during 2017-2018 and projected live inquiries into a timeline as part of data interpretation. By adopting Artography, I illustrated major aspects of my performative experiences with live narratives as a single case study. The major emerging themes of this study are as follows. First, the case revealed pervasive and progressive passion and energy toward putting interests on knowing and understanding hooded cranes from ecological perspectives by mimicking their social behaviors and gradually tried out small performance events. Second, despite learning folk and court crane dancing, I could keep trying out to create my own versions of hooded crane dancing through connecting myself with nature from the perspectives of migratory birds. Third, this study showed the characteristics that described the process by which choreography work was developed and internalized through trying to understand the ecology of hooded cranes and sympathy with nature. Finally, arts-based inquiry may open up various genres of creative art forms for hooded crane dancing as part of research outcomes; for example, the follow-up researcher can present an autobiographic dancing for hooded cranes after collecting and interpreting her inquiries on hooded crane’s ecological stories.

It is possible to determine how nongak (traditional Korean music performed by farmers) was sustained and what changes happened through various records including the history of lives and experiences of nongak performers, their personal diaries, village journals, village self-governing document, village minutes, etc. Using these records, this study elucidated the continuance and changing spectrum of nongak inherited in Sopo-ri, Jindo-gun, Jeolanam-do, the factors of change in and creation of tradition by village nongak, and the phenomenon of geolgul-jinbeomnon becoming permanent in Sopo-geolgun-nongak due to its designation as an cultural asset. This study also examined the identity of geolgun in Sopo-geolgun-nongak and how this designation became permanent. The composition of percussionists in the current Sopo-geolgun-nongak, such as the Jipsa, Mudong, Jorijung, Posu, Changbu, and Nongi(Nongu), or the performances of Geolgul-jinbeomnon had ben reconstructed since the mid-1980s based on the nongak document called Seosan-daesa-jinbeop-gungo from Haenam and other similar records. This was verified in this study through the changes in organizational composition of nongak bands since the 1960s. Nongak passed down in Sopo-ri was variously called as Sopo-ri Reconstruction Youth Society Nongak, Jindo Nongak, Geolgun Nongak, and Sopo-geolgun-nongak, etc. This study focused on examining the processes of Jindo Nongak Preservation Village formation and the designation of Sopo-geolgun-nongak as an intangible cultural asset in Jeolanam-do.

This study inquires into the name of the Dutbeki dance Ulsan folk people’s traditional dance. This study investigates the meaning of the name of “Dutbeki,” various Dutbaki plays that were fused into other folk dances, and finally the independently transferred Dutbeki play itself. The prior literatures and the process officially confirm the name of ‘Dutbeki’. In 2016, the Ulsan Metropolitan City conducted a complete survey of intangible cultural heritages and officially recognized the Dutbeki of the region as “Ulsan Dutbeki”. This was based on the relevant regulation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Survey of Ulsan Metropolitan City that formally confirmed the name as “Ulsan Dutbeki”. In this study the name is suggested as the “Ulsan Dutbeki Chum” to honor the tradition of the dance naming. This contributes to establish the foundation for preserving intangible cultural heritages and inheriting traditional culture in Ulsan Metropolitan City.

This study aims to analyze dance moves of Munmu and Mumu, two kinds of Ilmu of Jongmyojerye (the royal ancestral rites music) in order to identify significance and symbolism of the dance moves. The findings show that "Gyeonpa" was a dance move that was always included in 11 pieces of Botaepyeong(music to praise the cultural achievements of Jeseon's kings) and Jeongdaeeop(Music to extols the military attainments of Jeseon's kings) each. In Munmu, dancers would collect the energy, which has been circulated and spread before their faces with the knees bending and stretching and two hands open sideways each of the pieces by performing dance moves of spreading, gathering, turning, and repeating in most cases. After this Gyeonpa, the dancers expresses symbolically the wish for Botaepyeong, which achieves unity between the Heaven and Earth and hopes for a reign of peace for many years, in attitudes of respect and humility. In Mumu, they would maintain the Gyeonpa move of erecting a wooden sword(spear) straight and raising it high during long beats through the arm movement with no knee bending and stretching or perform Hyeokjeong with power and discipline 12 times, expressing Uideok(virtue) symbolically. The dance move of Gyeonpa is representative of the unique nature of Jongmyoilmu. It is important that the moves of spreading Mundeok in the combination of Yak and Jeok, circulation of yin and yang, and harmony of Ye and Ak would connect to flexible and soft dance moves of Haphyung in Munmu. In Mumu, it is important to maximize the solemn mood by erecting the wooden sword(spear) straight and stopping it with moves of embodying the achievements of distinguished military service with discipline.

Sanjo dance is a dance that was created with the origin of Sanjo music. Sanjo Dance was performed firstly in 1942 by Choi Seung-hee. From the 1950s to the 1970s Sinmuyoung (新舞踊, New Dance) dancers had presented the Sanjo dances. In the 1980s and around, the Sanjo dance did not draw much attention from the entire dance industry. From the 1990s to the present, the first Sanjo Dance was re-examined, and dancers newly presented various Sanjo dances. To summarize the aspects of Sanjo dance, first the Sinmuyoung dancers began to create it, and a number of the new dance-style Sanjo dances were created. In the 2000s, it has also been made in the traditional dance field. Second, after using Gayageum Sanjo by dancers, the musical instruments became more diversified, including the iron gayageum, geomungo, and haegeum, and the Sinawi format was also tried. Third, the Sanjo dance has various sub-titles, which reflect a certain motif or sense of subject matter of creation. However, Sanjo dances in the context of traditional dance tend to form a dance in the composition and flow of Sanjo music. Fourth, you can see creativity, improvisation and diversity in Sanjo dance. Creativity and improvisation are characteristics of Sanjo music, which gave rise to the diversity of Sanjo dance. The Sanjo dances developed in this flow can be divided into three contexts. These are the Sinmuyoung style, the traditional dance style, the mix of Sinmuyoung and traditional dance style.

This study focuses on the sociocultural and artistical interrelations between the "Korean Dance" and two of the most popular non-textual forms of mass media - commercial sound recordings (gramophone records) and films (feature films, newsreels, documentaries) - between the 1930s and 1960s. First, this study focuses on how gramophone records were employed through the Korean dance recitals during this period, as well as on what type of music was used in these recitals. Second, this paper examines the films documenting "Korean Dance" shot and produced during the time period in question, and discusses how these films were produced and how it has impacted establishing the "Korean Dance" through its mass distribution. By doing so, this paper attempts to provide a preliminary suggestion on how the "Korean Dance" has made its transitions over time, as well as an opportunity to historically understand the actual manifestation of "Korean dance" during its earlier days of a modern form of performing arts. It can be strongly argued that a strong sense of a historical parallel is revealed between the historic development of the Korean Dance in the early 20th century Korea and the development of the notion of Korean national culture, as both came into their modern manifestation through a series of constant interactions between Korean premodern cultures and the modern foreign cultures.

The aim of this research is to understand the dance culture in the government office space of the Joseon Dynasty (1392 ~ 1910). The objects of the analysis are 32 pictures of dancing in local government office space. Iconography and literature research are used as basic research methods, and comparative study is used as well. Chronologically, pictures of dancing in local government space appeared from 1580 to 1796, geographically from Pyeongando to Jeju Island. Most of the dance genres shown in the pictures were jeongjae. The performers in the pictures of dancing included female dancing entertainers called as ginyeo, boy dancers called as mudong, cheoyong dancers, and clowns also. Furthermore, the pictures revealed that a government officer and old men invited at the banquet danced together in the local government office space. This was because dancing was recognized as something wonderful that only a peaceful time allowed. In the Joseon Dynasty, the government office space was the place where people could enjoy dancing.