The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of discourse act that was unfolded in the process of modern Korean dance securing its significance as performing arts. In Korea, the first-half of the twentieth century witnessed the formation of new culture based on a clash between modern Western civilization that was accepted and the autogenous modern consciousness. The appearance of newspapers, in particular, provided ample opportunities for the reading public to participate in the society and gave birth to the modern consciousness of sharing one's ideas with others. This happened in the field of dance from various perspectives including reviews in the criticism format after the appreciation of dance performances, critiques, dance theories, and new ideas of the traditional dance. There was no establishment of proper dance criticism in Korea during the modern period, however there were meaningful acts to create dance discourses from diverse perspectives and enhance the aesthetic modernity of the public.

This article investigates the documentary recorda of Kyoukunshou (教訓抄, a musical book of gagaku) focusing on Batou (抜頭, one of the dances to belong of the Togaku). The record of Batou in Kyoukunshou has three following characteristics. First, it describes the history of Bugaku (舞楽, Japanese court dance) in such a manner that a comprehensive understanding of Batou from the its origin to its transfer and acceptance to Japan, actual performance, and transmission is possible. Second, it enables the grasping of theory, practice, and handing down situations of performances at a glance, and particularly in regard to the handing down of the performance, very detailed records have remained such that you can view the handing down chart of the tradition. Third, Japan's unique records, such as new motifs different from those found in Chinese records, are also found. This can be said to represent the process of transformation that has occurred while Tougaku (唐楽, style of gagaku based on Tang-era Chinese music and ancient Asia song and dance) from China has been settled down as Tougaku of Japan. Grasping the aspect of literature records in Kyoukunshou is like building a foundation for researching arts books written later. This study is significant in that it provided a clue for the study of Japanese Art books.

This study aims to examine the aesthetic resonance principle of Korean dance by analyzing how the place of Korean dance in the Middle Ages was influenced by the effect of dance through the ‘ki (氣, energy)’ theory by philosopher Choi Han-gi (1803~1879). As a research method, records related to dance were selected from historical literature, and Choi Han-gi's books were used as main texts, and related discourses were referenced. The original texts of the old documents used online databases with major old documents such as the National History Compilation Committee database, and keywords were limited to ‘mu (巫, shaman)’, ‘mu (舞, dance)’, and ‘chum (춤, dance)’. The results of the study are as follows. First, Korean dance was organically adapted to the spacetime of traditional society. Second, it was confirmed that the space of life was entangled as a place of dance in the traditional society. Third, it was possible to aesthetically explain that the principle of resonance in a special space called “sai (사이, between)” among dance places in traditional society was in ‘communication’. The main keywords of this study ―placeness, resonance, singi (神氣, primal energy), communication― are concepts that share the meanings of resonance as the nature of dance. The keywords are expected to contribute a academic and practical direction for today's dance theory.

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.