This study examines the artistic significance and value production of choreographer Park Kihyun’s re-enactment performance based on Lakeside Adagio of Act I, of Swan Lake, focusing on the concepts of ‘prototype/archetype’ and ‘re-enactment.’ The analysis examines the original dance notation and musical score to investigate how the prototype of the classical ballet was documented and structured. It also conducts interviews with the choreographer and dancers and observes the rehearsal process to explore the embodied memory and experiential performance of the ballet master and dancers in the re-enactment process. The study argues that the original value of the classical work is preserved and transmitted not only through the physical conservation of notation but also through the bodily archive of the ballet master and dancers. Re-enactment in classical ballet is understood not as a passive repetition of the original text, but as an exploratory practice realized through the interpretation of documentation and the creative execution of embodied knowledge.

This study aims at considering on Japanese postmodern dance, by researching Hijikata Tatsumi’s Ankoku Butoh, Dance of Darkness, which is known for most famous avant-garde dance of 1950s in Japan. Hijikata’s Butoh, started with Kinjiki in 1959, was an entirely new dance form having different qualities of expression from the other dances such as classic ballet and modern dance at that time of Japan. Mostly showing the experimental attempt on the stage by ordinary movement from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, Hijikata changed his performing style from his work in 1968, Hijikata Tatsumi and Japanese – Rebellion of Body. That means that Hijikata tried to make his own movement method. This study focuses on ‘Butoh notation’ as the principal reason of changing movement style of Butoh. By analyzing the existence of Butoh notations and contents of them, the research would figure out the actual relation between notation and creation of a new style.

This thesis examines the current status of the dance research of North Korea in three areas: research on dance history, research on dance theory, and the transmission and research of the cultural dance heritage. We investigate comprehensively by looking into the history of North Korean dance by identifying the artistic purpose of North Korea and the ways dance history books organize its history, and the research trend. In particular, it should be understood correctly on condition that the ideology contained in the dance, the social-cultural context, and the dance as a comprehensive art must be studied in paralleled with various theoretical systems, aesthetic characteristics, principles, and methods from a multifaceted perspective.

The history and culture of dance that could not be explained with old materials alone have been identified scientifically, newly established, and systematized in North Korea, and based on this, North Korean dance scholarship focused on the study of theory and method on the issues regarding transmission of the excellent traditions and dance heritage of the nation. This focus become an important guideline to the development of dance art in North Korea.

In addition, more systematic theoretical studies have been conducted in various ways, including Korean dance history, basic dance theory, and dance notation. These studies are significant in laying the foundation for the systemic and scientific study of dance theory. That would support the basics of dance, dance creation, and theoretical investigation.