This study investigates the historical roots of the "Toad Dance" that emerged in Dongnae, Busan and documents its music, costumes, and major movements. From the perspective of resonance aesthetics, this study focuses on the Toad Dance performed by Kim, Hee-sang (1924-1995) at the Small Theater of the National Theater of Korea on June 22, 1984. Based on data collected from an interview with Kim, Onkyeong (1938-), the study reveals that the main performance space for the Toad Dance was Gibang (an indoor entertainment space). Kim also disclosed that the Toad Dance was performed by a male-female couple in the Gibang, but by one person in the outdoor space. Through analysis of newspaper articles on multiple performances of the Toad Dance from 1984-1998, as well as video and archival sources of the Toad dances documented by Park, Jinju (1936-1986), the study articulates the following characteristics of the Toad Dance: 1) The dance movements of the Toad Dance are generated based on improvisation; 2) The performance spaces for the Toad Dance include both outdoor and indoor areas; and 3) The Toad Dance symbolizes 'play' and 'origin', represents unique mimic costumes, and utilizes the breathing method based on the Dongnae Deotbaegi rhythm.

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.