The History and Legacy of Korean Folk Dances

Wisdom

The History and Legacy of Korean Folk Dances

Previous

Contents

Next

Professor

Of all dances in Korea, folk dance is the oldest. These are developed in association with religious and farming activities of ancient times. As remarked by a leading dance critic of Korean dance, the ideal of Korean dance is enjoyment of mot and hung rather than demonstration of the techniques of dancing for dance's sake. The mot may be translated as "exotic style" and hung could mean "enthusiastically joyful mood". The Korean folk dances are expressions of this feeling: an irresistibly joyful mood almost reaching the point of giddiness, a joy puring forth from within, from a deep sense of beauty, a state of everlasting exhilaration.

Some unique features of Korean folk dance is the precedence of the dancer's movements over rhythm, and the precedence of rhythm over meter. Another important aspect of Korean folk dance is the dispensation of the concept of time, wherein the dancer remains motionless except for the shoulders' rhythmic up and down movements. In the Korean folk dance, the stillness is used to achieve "spiritual executed in quiescence." Traditional folk dance is categorized into first, the dance associated with Shamanistic mask plays, and the second was secular dance for popular entertainment.

The mask dance called t'alch'um in Korean originated with the spring and autumn rituals of the ancient Koreans that are performed to honor heavenly and earthly spirits. One of main styles of Korean mask dances is the kkaekki which has ten acts of various steps, motions, and rhythms. It is performed to the folk tunes of faster rhythms. Usually, the mask dancers wear grotesque painted masks made of gourd or wood and colorful costumes with long sleeves. They also perform various physical gestures that are highly comical.

Other dances that belong to the culture of the common Korean people were developed in the early 16th century. These dances are folk adaptation of the Buddhist "drum dance" and these are performed by a female dancer wearing a Buddhist monk's robe, long sleeves and red mantle, a white hood, and a Buddhist rosary. Also, versions of these dances (so called Monk Dance) had been developed, although these lack certain artistic majesty, but still these were considered to be spectacular secular dances.

You can talk about... The History and Legacy of Korean Folk Dances

Tags: • costumes • expressions • ancient • farming • religious • folk dances • buddhist monks • dance • korean •

Previous

Contents

Next

• <a href="http://article-library.cunidos.com">Wisdom</a>
• <a href="http://article-library.cunidos.com/performing_arts">The History and Legacy of Korean Folk Dances (performing arts); Wisdom </a>

Privacy & DMCA Policy -- Sitemap
performing arts The History and Legacy of Korean Folk Dances