Diversity of Korean Dance

From Korean traditional dance to modern and contemporary dance. The evolution of Korean Dance.

By Korea Arts Management Service

Korean Arts Management Service

Deot bae gi Dance by LEE Yun-seokKorea Arts Management Service

LEE YUN-SEOK

LEE Yun-seok, Holder in Intangible Cultural Heritage no.7 Goseong Ogwangdae, Master of Maltugi Dance. Malttugi-chum, in which LEE is a remarkable specialist, originates from the folk character known as Malttugi, a sort of jester who performed satirical and exaggerated gesture and behaviors of aristocrats in the Chosun Dynasty. LEE's Malttugi-chum expresses a straight forwardness iwht its confidence and smooth movement, as if the dancer is making calligraphy with his body. His dance excudes strong energy, which is embodied and elaborated on by precise motions and manners-a true Templar indeed.

Gyobang Dance by Park Kyung-rangKorea Arts Management Service

PARK KYEONG-RANG

Park Kyung-rang, a master of Gyobang-gutgeori. Dance "Gyobang" is a sort of institution that used to instruct courtesans, or "ki-saeng," to master various kinds of artistic performance. In that sense, Gyobang-gutgeori Dance is originally the dance of ki-saeng culture. The exciting beat of "gutgeori" rhythm stimulates the ambience of this repertoire, while the dancer dazzles the audience with her florid movement using a folding fan. Both significant elements, the movement and the rhythm, come from the eastern region of Korea, which is known for the splendor of its cultural splendor.

Drum Dance by HA Yong-buKorea Arts Management Service

HA YOUNG-BU

HA Yong-bu, Holder in Intangible Cultural Heritage no. 68 Milyang Bakjung Nori, Master of Beomboo and Drum Dance. The word "beomboo" in Beomboo Dance means "a common man." Interestingly enough, this repertoire takes the literal meaning to have dancers performed without any elaborate props or instruments. Beomboo Dance has been varied into several different types depending on the originality and characteristics of an individual dancer. HA Yong-bu's Beomboo Dance involves a drum which quite shows its powerful spirit as the sound of the drum is getting infused inside the dancer's body and then gradually being laid out again on the stage. The slow movement in the first part of the dance picks more and more speed, later becoming rapid and energetic.

Seungmu by Jin Yu-rimKorea Arts Management Service

JIN YU-RIM

Jin Yu-rim, Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 27 and 97(Buddhist dance, Salpuri), Master of Seungmu. Seungmu is a Korean dance performed by Buddhist monks. It is one of the most famous Korean traditional dances and designated as South Korea's important intangible cultural asset number 27 in 1969. It has been developed into a solo dance by professional dancers nowadays.Every now and then, when one rhythm shifts to another, the dancer changes the mood by changing his steps Some regard Seungmu as the most beautiful Korean dance, for the mixture of flowing movements and stillness. The dancer's long and white sleeves movements, the serenity of white hood, a breathtaking pause, and then a soul-stirring movement contribute to the singular uniqueness of the Seungmu

Chaesang sogo Dance by KIM WOON TAEKorea Arts Management Service

KIM WOON TAE

KIM WOON TAE, Master of Chaesangsogo Dance. Chaesang Sogo Choom is a kind of traditional dance using a hat with a long papered tail which uses to spin itself by dancer’s head. The dance has been very popular and famous in southern province of Korea. Especially with using a specific rhythm, Gutgeori KIM Woon-tae follows great masters of this dance.

Shim Chung by ChangMu Dance CompanyKorea Arts Management Service

DANCE THEATER CHANG

This company, whose name means 'creating dance' has so successfully fused the core of Western modern dance with traditional Korean dance that it evokes the work of Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. Kim Maeja not only offers an invitation to the dance, but an invitation in the order of the Buddhist world upon which both traditional Korean dance and her own dances are based. _South China Morning Post / Julia Fax

Andersen's Gaze by LEE KYUNG OK DANCE COMPANYKorea Arts Management Service

LEE KYUNG OK DANCE COMPANY

LEE Kyung-ok has stubbornly created her own world of dance with the theme of "dance fairy tales for adults." She does not concern herself with the fact that the majority of Korean dance troupes operate as university alumni troupes. Like an independence activist, she works by assembling freelance dancers herself. Of course, it cannot be ignored that the colors of LEE's dance are clear, as the dancers who have worked with her for nearly ten years have not left her dance. But if the dancers she has prized leave for personal reasons, she must resolutely train another new dancer. Arming someone with LEE Kyung-ok's dance is inevitably an exhausting endeavor. _ RYU In-wha, Dance Critic

Rose by Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up GroupKorea Arts Management Service

SUNGSOO AHN PICK-UP GROUP

Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up Group’s works are always ‘educational.’ His ‘classical’ interpretation on ‘classical music’ is beautiful. So is Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up Group’s <rose & mating dance> with the theme of Nijinsky’s <the rite of spring>, the great piece of dance music of the 20th century, and Ravel’s <bolero>. They made clear and distinct images as beautiful lines well._KIM Seung hyun, Choom, 2009

Madame Freedom by YMAP ( Your Media Arts Project )Korea Arts Management Service

YMAP

What a curious and intermittently rewarding piece of multimedia dance theater thisis. _Donald Hutera, The Times; Madam Freedom is also superbly dynamic in the way it puts a 21st century woman in the context of her country's past. _Mary Brennam, The Herald

Argument by Choe Contemporary Dance CompanyKorea Arts Management Service

CHOE CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY

Mr. CHOE is a quietly mesmerizing performer, whether moving his arm in long, leisurely but alert circles to stoke the gong in the group work or powerfully commanding the stage with just the attenuated, subtle stretching of his body in his own “Cloud and Rock,” danced to an atmospheric score by Mr. KIM. A little jewel of a dance that was a highlight of the program, the solo made one want to see more of Mr. CHOE, now also enrolled at New York University.” _Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times <review dance>

Balance and Imbalance by Bereishit Dance CompanyKorea Arts Management Service

BEREISHIT DANCE COMPANY

“Park Soon-ho dancing the dances of their village, to dance in the world. With notorious international inclination, "Balance & Imbalance" and "Pattern & Variable" combine Eastern and Western cultural elements, a unique result moves the viewer through movements and sounds, and even concepts, unusual in this region of the planet.” _Ana Rosa Rodriguez, Uruguay

Darkness Pumba by ModerntableKorea Arts Management Service

MODERN TABLE

Darkness Poomba by Kim Jae DukTwo male dancers ignite Darkness Poomba with a duet performed under severe top-light. A fast and furious exchange of angularly choreographed movement, hands mechanically grasping for each other’s faces, and bodies regimented in a forward facing stance. Creating the illusion of a robotic pair of Siamese twins, the two young men are a fashionable modern day fruition of an ancient cog-like machine. Five dancers clad in chic black clothing sharply enter from the peripheries to join the machine and expand upon the gothic energy that has been created (.....) Not one sense is privileged over the other in this haunting re-contextualization of the traditional South Korean melody of Poomba. A truly interdisciplinary and multi-layered work, audience members are taken on a strange and unexpected voyage through the realms of contemporary dance, traditional song, stadium rock, and festival reggae music. Although such a journey may sound schizophrenic and disjunctive in nature, this collage of contexts and performance genres is executed seamlessly. Darkness Poomba is a work that manages to constantly transform our environment before we have even noticed, each world almost functioning as a sinister critique of the one that has come before._Cat Ruka

EDx2 Dance Company

“The piece is funny, tender, aggressive, athletic and mesmerizing.....“Modern Feeling” is like any great dance with two or more people in it. It’s about the way dancers interact with each other, the way two people react to other people around them and feed off their energy and contribute to it themselves.” _Ken Ross, The Republican     "Modern Feeling" is quick, light, and funny, a fleet evocation of friendship and competitiveness. The piece showcases the company's dramatic skills: Lee and Ryu are acting as much as they're dancing…...Something very male is going on here, play sliding into aggression and even anger, then back to play again. Through it all, Lee and Ryu maintain exquisite control of their movements.” _Bob Hicks, The Oregonian

Wave by Sun-A-DanceKorea Arts Management Service

SUN-A-DANCE

Arms, legs, hair: all gears smoothly into various painterly and almost illusionistic visual impressions. It is beautiful as a painting. Sun-A Lee's choreography is one of the most visually elaborate and detailedly skillful dance works I have ever seen. Few choreographers have such an artistic consciousness on the visual impression._Björn Gunnarsson, Hallands Nyheter, 2013.11.23. 

No Comment by LDPKorea Arts Management Service

LDP

LDP Dancers are possible to performing in traditional piece as well. About piece which is planning to show our piece called LDP repertory "No Comment" has similar sympathy between other cultures._Disuke Muto, Japanese dance critic, Indonesia Dance Festival Artistic Director

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