When someone mentions Korean dance, young girls dancing with waist-drums in traditional Korean long dresses are most likely to come to mind.
True, it is Korean dance. But just one form. Now there is a chance for you to widen your knowledge of Korean dance.
The Changmu Dance Company from South Korea will perform a 90-minute dance drama entitled "Shim Hung" at the Experimental Theatre of the Beijing Modern Dance Company on May 14.
The Changmu Dance Company has initiated a turning point in the Korean dance history.
Through the Korean creative dance movement initiated by the company, which has been actively expanding since the mid 1970s, dancers have been encouraged to find a new identity by creating a new dance vocabulary and dance method.
At the center of this movement is Kim Mae Ja, who started the Korean creative dance movement when she organized the Changmu Dance Company in 1976.
Spurring the movement was the recognition that the romantic styles of non-traditional dance and classical traditional dance were not sufficient to reflect the changes occurring in Korean society and culture.
Furthermore, it also became apparent that they could not compete against the liberal forms of modern dance.
"Although many works were performed in Korean dance festivals under the Korean dance category, most of them failed to win any awards," said Kim, founder as well as artistic director of the company.
"A sense of crisis prevailed and the Korean dance community came to realize that there were only two courses left for its survival," said Kim.
"First, Korean dance had to initiate and undergo changes to accept the format of contemporary theatrical dance. Secondly, it had to study the traditional elements of Korean dance culture from a more fundamental perspective, if it was to achieve a successful renewal," she explained.
The Changmu Dance Company and other Korean dancer groups began to present subjects that criticized modern civilization and portrayed a variety of psychological themes. At the same time, they began to systemize dance movements and introduced greater expressiveness.
"We aim not only at reconstructing 'movement' representative of various periods of Korean dance, but also at reflecting contemporary thought," she said.
In the Fourth Beijing Modern Dance Festival, which runs from May 5 to 28, the Changmu Company will perform "Shim Hung."
The dance drama tells the story of a young Korean girl whose father goes blind. The only thing that will restore his eyesight is an offering of 300 bags of rice to the local temple.
She's broke, so she sells herself to a sea captain as a sacrifice to be thrown overboard in order to protect the ship from the angry ocean.
A mix of Korean dance and Pansori, "Shim Hung" is in itself a milestone in the expression of Korean culture.
Pansori, a traditional way of singing and telling folklore with drum accompaniment, is a beautiful heritage of Korean culture. It provides the narrative structure and musical imagery for the creation of the dance.
Adapted from the original four-hour version of Pansori, the dance gives contemporary relevance to this classic in an hour and a half without diminishing the original theme of love and faith.
Kim's choreography further enhances the power of light. "When brightness shines into darkness, hope is born out of suffering and death," she explains.
(China Daily May 14, 2002)
