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.

The notational method for Baroque dances, created by Pierre Beauchamps in 1674 and published by Raoul-Auger Feuillet in 1700, was received exceptionally well and understood to be the best method to record Baroque dances during that time. However, it was not until the 1980’s that it was appreciated again, and enjoyed a renaissance. This paper focuses on the Baroque dances choreographed by Guillaume Louis Pécour. There are 539 Baroque existing dance notations and Pécour is recognized as the most productive choreographer in the Baroque era, making 49 dances for balls and 71 dances for theaters. One of his masterpieces, Entrée Espagnol pour un homme et une femme, is analyzed to show the characteristics of his choreography. Pécour’s most notable characteristics in his choreography of Entrée Espagnol pour un homme et une femme, from the Opera-Ballet L'Europe Gallant, was the intermixing of the difficult movements with the easy ones, and the soft movements with the strong ones. For the music, Pécour used a variety of methods and would use three beats in the first part, or in the second part. He utilized these atypical music and dance methods to choreograph technically difficult movements harmoniously. We emphasize the importance of the notation by reproducing the dance choreographed exactly as it was done 318 years ago and analyzing the characteristics of Pécour. Without the notation, we could never figure out how beautiful the Baroque dances were. We expect this paper to encourage further study of Baroque dances in Korea.

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 study probes how the notions of choreography has formed and changed in relation to dance notation. Two manuscripts, not by accident identically titled, are examined— Chorégraphie by Raoul-Auger Feuillet and Choreographie by Rudolf von Lavan—with regard to their respective understandings of the principles of dance and their socio-political contexts. This study brings Feuillet and Laban into a historical perspective beyond the previous literatures that solely focused on either of them. In Feuillet, choreography was defined as the composition of dance by means of notation. The space for dance was identified as flat and rectangular one, which led to the principles of ballet with the emphasis on geometrical shapes, establishing the two-dimensional plasticity as the aesthetic norm of the time. The act of composing dance by notating movement accompanied the emergence of the choreographer-subject which objectifies bodies of dancers, and thus the invention and development of dance notation was supported by the absolute monarchy out of its interest in the absolutistic body available to be controlled and disciplined. Laban developed the concept of choreography as the notation of forms and qualities of movement in space harmony. Laban theorized scales and rings in crystal space as new principles of movement, founding three-dimensional plasticity with its unceasing mobility as the aesthetic norm of modern dance. Complying with modernist ideal of progress and efficiency, Laban also applied his principles to choreograph movements of industrial bodies. Addressing manuscripts of Feuillet and Laban, and their contribution to the historical formation of the notions of choreography, this study unfolds the concepts of choreography in multilateral contexts, complementing and surpassing the prevalent, literal understanding of its meaning as dance-writing, which will provide the cornerstone for elucidating the historicity of choreography leading up to the present.

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.