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.