A dancer communicates with the world with his or her body and reacts to reality in a most direct and poignant manner. During the 1980s and 90s, at a time of rapid economic and political changes, Korean dancers responded quickly to outside developments. Korean dancers, for the first time, came out of their academies and moved their art onto the street where political and social conflicts were making news. Such bold activities of engagement, some critics say, were possible because Korean dancers had new confidence in their art after dazzling developments in dance during the preceding years.

On Time choreographed by Ahn Ae-soon

Progressive dancers, not content with dancing for self-satisfaction or for purely artistic pursuits, showed the courage to choose problems of society as themes for their dance and spurred much public reaction. Dancers, as they tried to portray history and social reality, had two contrasting areas of concern. One area was the inherent problems of the Korean nation -- the division of the country accompanied by ideological conflicts, human rights and freedom -- as the reason for their social engagement. The other was the more fundamental problem of the recovery of humanity in the realities of "here and now." Frustrations from the daily routines of urban life stimulated their artistic passion.

May, the Year 1980 choreographed by Kim Hwa-suk

After witnessing the collapse of the communist bloc and the receding of the Cold War at the end of the 80s, socially-conscious artists shifted the focus of their creative activities from ideological issues to more individual and philosophical questions. The major subjects in the 1990s were the search for self-identity, feminism, environmental concerns and the quest for eternal Oriental values, etc.


Gwangju Democratic Movement Trilogy

The Gwangju Democratic Movement of 1980, which left more than 200 pro-democracy protesters dead and hundreds of others injured in Gwangju was a landmark event in modern Korean history. The "Gwangju Democratic Movement Trilogy" is a masterpiece of politically inspired dance created by Kim Hwa-suk over the span of four years of devoted work. The first piece of this trilogy, May, 1980 was first staged by the SAPPHO Modern Dance Company led by Kim Hwa-suk at the Gwangju Art Hall in May, 1995. This 90-minute performance shows seven images. When the curtain is raised, films show the massacre sites and the Mangwol-dong cemetery where the victims of the brutal military suppression of the popular uprising are buried. A mother with a chrysanthemum in her hand moves about on the desolate stage. Images of reeds on a hillside adds to her sorrow which turns to anger as dancers produce an urgent and intense atmosphere with impromptu and expressionist movements.

Salpuri choreographed by Lee Jung-hee

Two years later in April, 1997, the second piece, The Land of Unrequited Love, was performed at the Seoul Arts Center. This time, seats on the first floor were left empty and the audience looked down on the stage from the second and third floors. Thus a bowl-shaped stage was created to symbolize a deserted, estranged land named Gwangju. Again, the pains from the tragedy of the city was expressed through a mother who seemingly lost her son in the bloodshed.

A large blood-stained cloth is spread on the stage and naked girls are lying on it. Several boys are also lying beside them. While the cello plays a funeral song, a girl is molested by the boys. A woman dancer's solo is followed by another scene of atrocity but the solo dancer desperately appeals for forgiveness.

The last piece, Their Wedding, staged at the Seoul Arts Center in May, 1998, was made up of seven acts. Twenty-two dancers tell the story of the aftermath of the bloody uprising, which used the Mangwol-dong cemetery as the backdrop. As the curtain is raised, eight couples in wedding dresses stand on stage with their backs to the audience. They perform group dances in a reenactment of the confrontation between the military forces and the weak, yet righteous, democratic forces.

Of the three productions that form the trilogy, May, 1980 is the most objective historical interpretation of the popular uprising, while The Land of Unrequited Love tries to portray the inhumanity of totalitarianism. Although the choreographer attempts to conclude the series with a message of reconciliation, Their Weddings passes a sweeping moral judgement over the whole affair.


Mom's Smile

Mom's Smile is an enlightening work that portrays the agony of mothers raising handicapped children. The story is told through a variety of traditional Korean dances and quasi-shamanistic rituals, which have been given a modern interpretation. Youn Duck-kyung composed the work in ten acts. The 60-minute performance centers around a deaf boy, Chul, and his mother.
	Salpuri choreographed by Lee Jung-hee

The work begins with Chul performing a stammering version of the song "Mother's Love," followed by the scenes of his mother's courtship and marriage, Chul's birth, the boy's estrangement from his peers and his untimely death. A traditional Korean memorial service is held to console Chul's soul and pray for his happiness in heaven, and his mother performs another traditional shamanistic dance to exorcise evil spirits. The final dance resembles the traditional ritual symbolically treading upon the god of the land. Throughout the performance, the mother wears a modern costume but her exorcism dance is in the traditional style. The dance is interpreted as an attempt to portray the deep emotion of "han" that still prevails in contemporary Korean life.

Lee Jung-hee's Salpuri series reflect the political situation at the time when she produced each work. Although Lee Mae-bang has kept the essential elements of the traditional "Salpuri dance" the interpretation is nonetheless thoroughly modern. Salpuri, which means eliminating the "sal" or evil spirit from one's body, closely resembles the Western concept of exorcism. The Salpuri dance is therefore a transformative experience. Each Korean province has its own unique Salpuri characters and motifs, which add difficulty to the interpretation of the dance.

The Earth by Yun duk-kyung

Lee Jung-hee's first piece of the Salpuri series was performed in 1980 and the last piece was completed in 1993. Each piece of the 13-year series was a large-scale work, covering a variety of themes ranging from modern man's isolated life to the tragic division of the Korean peninsula. After Lee returned home from an extended study tour in the U.S. in 1980, she released Salpuri I, which shocked the Korean dance society. Using a slide projection to show scenes of Seoul in the backdrop, she introduced bold stage techniques into the performance of the traditional Salpuri ritual. Salpuri II to Salpuri IX are all realistic works revolving around political and social issues that predominate in Korean society. Each part of the series delivered a clear message, from the Gwangju Democratic Movement to the inter-Korean talks, each uniquely and personally epitomized modern tragedies in human terms. Therefore, some critics have dubbed the Salpuri series as "Nine Elegies."

The Song of the Black Spirits by Lee Jung-hee

Of the nine pieces, Salpuri VIII is the most lyrical piece. It begins with a well-dressed couple dancing before an antique record-player while white umbrellas fall from the sky. The dance paints a picture of the resilience of the human beings.

Salpuri IX tells of the heart-breaking partition of the peninsula. The stage is divided into two parts, separated by barbed-wire, and the dances are symbolically arranged around a negotiating table that divides the South and the North. Using improvisation, ashen make-up and shocked, glazed expressions, the dancers portray the hopelessness of the deadlocked inter-Korean talks. The piece closes with an old woman sweeping the table with a broom, seemingly longing for the unification of the country.



Red Signal

Red Signal by Han Sang-kun, premiered in 1987, warns of the destruction of the earth due to human greed. To express the theme of apocalypse occurring from environmental pollution, Han employed a variety of unusual sound and lighting effects not only on stage but also in the audience.

Even before the audience can take their seats, Han Sang-kun and a band of dancers are already sitting in the center of the stage. Han Sang-kun is wearing a red skirt, a blue shirt and flower-patterned shoes while nine female dancers form a circle around him. Long scarves are drooped over the women's heads. One wall of the theater is entirely covered with newspapers and six TV sets are placed on the stage facing the audience. While electronic music plays, an eerie voice accompanied by clapping sounds are heard from the balcony seats. The noise creates a strange, nervous mood in the theater. Suddenly, one of the dancers begins to groan and chatter her teeth. Dancers begin to shake their bodies to the rhythm of drums and Kkwaenggwari gongs and then they move in typical Korean dance motions.

The Land of Predilection by Kim Hwa-suk

Han Sang-kun throws his naked body on the floor, leaps, and brutally rips off his mask, his movements filled with violence. At the same time, colored confetti is dropped from the second-floor balcony. This confetti, symbolizing one's arrival in "Nirvana," is contrasted by a film showing nuclear explosions, starvations, floods, and pollution. In the finale, dancers take turns sitting on each other's shoulders, a big balloon soars from the center stage and white-grey liquid is shot from fire extinguishers to symbolize a final encroaching cataclysm. As a reminder of our responsibility to prevent this environmental nightmare, the performance ends with children, in brand-new clothes, playing under the bright lights on the other side of the stage -- driving home the message that we have to prepare for a new era.

Mom's Smile by Youn Duck-kyung

Orpheus Syndrome

Orpheus Syndrome-1998 was created by the promising young choreographer, Park Ho-bin. He selected the mythical figure to deliver three themes -- murder, suicide and salvation. As the curtain is raised, one male dancer hangs from a stair set up on stage while another male dancer, playing Orpheus, is tied to a chair. The lead female dancer Jo Seong-ju along with Park Ho-bin both wear white hospital gowns with long sleeves. Park Ho-bin holds a plant sprayer in one hand, and in the other a pot. He continues to water the plant in the pot. Orpheus unties himself and crosses the "River of Death" to rescue his wife. He finds her buried in the ground and the two try to escape but Orpheus is captured by his assailant and is buried in his wife's grave. Park then removes a snake symbolizing Satan from the heroine dancer's gown, and he takes out one from his own body, too.

1919 by Kim Un-mi

Characters in this work show the sickness of modern man's condition so explicitly that the intention of the choreographer is quite clear. The hospital gowns with long sleeves and a blue patchwork intensify the visual effects of the piece. The "Lord's Prayer" music, a church bell sound, a violin solo and synthesized religious music produce an extraordinary atmosphere.


On Time

On Time choreographed by Ahn Ae-soon seeks to portray the "nomadic wandering of modern people." Ahn accomplishes this through the use of delicate music and impulsive movements for the duration of the 18-minute production. But in On Time, Ahn Ae-soon tries to distance herself from the usual Korean themes, which had been a trademark of her works up to now. She had previously employed Korean traditional dance movements, while rarely relying on Western techniques since her debut in 1990. In this piece, she seems to regard the traditional elements as obstacles that restrict her imagination. In another break with Korean traditional motifs in On Time she choreographs this dance to jazz music.

Playing with Dolls by Kim Yang-keun

Jeon Mi-sook's soul-searching dance combines three unrelated subjects, with each being presented in a negative sense. The subtitles accompanying this production explain that the dog represents a "dog-like" damned world, a dream that never comes true and the chrysanthemum flower that just fades away.



Large iron fans are lined up in a row on the horizon of the stage, while dancers with black hats perform as condemned criminals in front of machines, leaping and falling. The fans are still, in contrast to the manic movements of the inmates. From a dome high above the stage, ashes of death are poured onto the floor as the "dogs" below take off their clothes. Dancers in skin-colored tights express the daily struggle for survival by rending their garments. For this part, the choreographer chooses to minimize the technical aspects of movements and instead concentrate on the simple, daily movements of life that fill our existence: pushing, pulling, walking, running.

A woman dancer appears in a white strapless dress, decorated with white chrysanthemums, the symbol of death. Her mouth is highlighted by her makeup, and when she shouts, her strange facial expression seems to scorn society, herself and others. The eight dogs describe dirty, vulgar and shameless human beings and the world they have created. Their blue velvet clothes become ragged and torn as they grapple, kick and claw one another. Gas masks worn by some dancers symbolize the pollution of our air, the ten huge fans, which are supposed to ventilate the space, do not work and the iron chains that fall from the sky are a heavenly warning to fetter the evil instincts of human beings. Those men have dreams, the reason for their existence, but they are just dreaming. The female dancer in a long dress decorated with chrysanthemums returns again to close the production.

On Time by Ahn Ae-soon

Jeon Mi-sook illustrates her nihilistic beliefs as well as her sneering contempt for the mad, irrelevant world that we have collectively created. But her characters are unable to resist their oppressors, whoever they may be. This work testifies to Jeon's deep insight into fundamental human nature.