This study aims to understand how the terms ‘muyong (dance)’ and ‘shinmuyong (new dance)’ were initiated, used, and established in Korea through newspapers in the Japanese colonial era such as the Maeil Shinbo, the Dong-A Daily news, and the Chosun Ilbo. The term muyong was first used in Japan, as suggesting a new formal characteristic of being not only Western and but also Japanese. It was simultaneously born with shinmuyong, a term indicating a type of dance newer than the existing one. Shinmuyong indicated an achievement of creation of new Japanese dance that was regarded as being compatible with that of the Western powers. It was an article on the Maeil Shinbo dealing with Yeki, a Japenese dance, on October 7, 1913 that introduced the term muyong to Korea for the first time under Japanese imperialism. In the Dong-A Daily news, muyong represented the term ‘Western dance’ when European tanz theater in 1920s was introduced; it was used to indicate a type of Western dance with philosophy and artistry. The Chosun Ilbo first used the term muyong in its article titled “Western Dance Nowadays” on October 7, 1927. Since then, both mudo and muyong had been used to refer to dance until early 1928, but since late 1928, the use of muyong had increased rapidly in the newspapers and then became generalized. The first article describing classical dance such as geom-mu (a sword dance), a Korean traditional dance, as muyong was the one written by Kim Dong Hwan dated May 12, 1927. The term shinmuyong was perceived as a creative dance that produced something new in 1930s in Korea. It was, in other words, used as a term similar to new-work dance, creative dance, or creative artistic dance with artistry and creativity on the basis of European modern dance.

The purpose of this study was to examine and highlight Choi Hyeon’s dance, performed during his life as part of Korea’s dance history, in terms of its position in the art world. Choi Hyeon was born in Yeongdo, Busan on December 6, 1929 and passed away from liver cancer at the age of 78 on July 8, 2002. He entered the dance world in 1946 as a pupil of Kim Hae-Rang (金海郞) and learned the basics of dancing by emulating the teacher for eight years. His dancing career developed after his arrival at Seoul. Choi Hyeon was one of the most influential dancers between the 1950s and 1980s, and he acted as a choreographer and dancer, showing originality based on tradition, from the 1970s until his death in the 2000s. He also continued to teach dance from the 1950s until his death. Choi Hyeon broadly classified his works into large-scale dance dramas and small-scale dance works. His leading dance dramas included (National Musical Company of Korea, 1974), (National Dance Company of Korea, 1979), (National Dance Company of Korea, 1981), (Seoul Performing Arts Company, 1987), (Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre, 1992), (Seoul Performing Arts Company, 1999), and (Choi Hyeon Dance Performance, 2001). His leading small-scale dance works included (1976), (1993), (1994), and (1999). Choi Hyeon's dance world was broadly understood within the genre of Korea’s creative dance, but technically, it was a successful case of an advanced style in the genre of new dance. Choi Hyeon left his imprint on Korea’s dance history, while leading his life in the modern era, by his successful creation and performance of his works based on his theory of new dance-oriented reasoning among Korea’s various styles of creative dance.