This study is to find the significance of Seungmu(Buddhist dance) in Han Yeongsuk’s style by analyzing musical and choreographic characteristics of its Dangak movements, which distinguish itself from other styles of the Seungmu, in the light of exhilaration consisting of the basis of Korean culture. By this study, it is achieved to firm the identity of Seungmu in Han Yeongsuk’s style and determine its significance in the history of Korean traditional dance. The following is the result of this study. Firstly, Dangak is the movement that four of very fast three counts consist of one beat, played when a shaman has a dancing ritual for a spirit to possess the shaman in Seoul and Gyeonggi area. Dangak rooted in this shaman music is conservative in that the shaman music is the music for a spirit but at the same time also open and dynamic because it is professional music for audience in performance field. Dangak movements which accompaniment is based on such dynamic shaman music is most likely to bring exhilaration and amusement out by various melodies of performer’s impromptu playing and repetition of rhythm with fast speed and a number of beats. Secondly, in the dance of Dangak, the performance starts primarily with the dance spreading, winding, laying or turning Jangsam(the robe of Buddhist monk) or throwing it over the shoulder. Then performer takes the drumstick out of the robe and beats a drum, holding back the sleeve and dancing each motion with robe and drum harmonized. This can be said a master of dance mingling Jangsam and drum with beauty of balance, which has been developed further from the prior form of dancing that was with only Jangsam or onlydrum beating. As accompanied with such world of Dangak dance, dynamic of Dangak accompaniment with fast speed accelerates the elevating energy generated from the harmony of drum and Jangsam, creating aesthetic performance to sinmyeong(exhilarate). Moreover, it has no diagonal motion but makes the repetitive motions balancing at center, such as moving from center to the front or from the front to the back, so that it has satisfied the requirement to maximize strong and active energy. In other words, various dancing motions balancing at center including stepping forward and backward, turning and taking steps back are fitted with fast rhythm, lifting up the atmosphere of exhilaration gradually. Thirdly, considering Dangak movement of Seungmu in Han Yeongsuk’s style has been evolved into Dangak dance with drum beating and the motions using Jangsam harmonized, it deserves the significance for its unique identity. Furthermore, it is a representative dance as one of the best Korean traditional dances since it has embodied an aesthetic structure arousing exhilaration, the root of Korean culture, with its own composition elevating from slow rhythm of the monotonous rule in traditional music to fast one.

Korean traditional dance is a well-established traditional art as years go by. Recently, Korean traditional dances have seen renewed popularity, but in the process, new interpretations and transformations have eroded the historical and spiritual values inherited in these traditional dances. This study is to rediscover these historical and spiritual values by re-examining the life and dance philosophy of Han Sung-Jun (韓成俊, 1874-1941), and how these had been handed down to Han Youn-sook and Lee Ae-ju. The research reviews existing literature with comprehensive and in-depth analysis. Han Sung-Jun, who came from a long line of dance artists who inherited and developed dance practices reflecting the unique identity of the Korean people, believed that it was through dancing that the human body could truly manifest its natural vitality and emphasized patient learning and training. Han Sung-jun's philosophy was passed on to his granddaughter, Han Young-sook (韓英淑, 1920-1989), who emphasized the exclusion of foreign imitation and of exaggeration by utilizing the spontaneous characteristics of Korean dance. She particularly criticized the blind following/copying of foreign dances and emphasized a focus on traditional Korean dances. Lee Ae-ju (李愛珠, 1947-), who in turn inherited the school of thought from Han Young-sook, took the view that it was through dance training that the mind and soul could have release towards full realization of the human nature. She emphasized the training that all of the body's energy sprang from the lower abdomen to introspect within oneself and served as the foundation for all Korean traditional songs and dance.