Distinguishing Features of Korea's Traditional Music

Court Dances Folk Dances Seungmu (monk dance) Salpuri (Spirit-cleansing dance) Religious Dances Mask Dances

Court Dances

Korean court dances, called jeongjae, meaning literally "display of talent," were used to entertain for the royal family, court functionaries, and foreign envoys. They were also performed on festive occasions sponsored by the state. Some were derived from those of Tang China and called Dang-ak jeongjae, while others were newer forms of Korean court dances called Hyang-ak jeongjae. The former was gradually modified by Korean dancers and musicians over the centuries so that it is hard to trace their original traits.

Court classics glorifying the court and praying for a long life for the king were formulated in solemn, elegant movements accompanied by equally solemn music and occasional songs. Today, about 50 court classics are preserved in the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, including geommu (sword dance), cheoyongmu (dance of cheoyong), mugo (drum dance), pogurak (ball-throwing dance), suyeonjang (banquet dance), chunaengjeon, gainjeonmokdan (beautiful persons picking peonies), and hangmu (crane dance).

Jeongjae performances follow a strict formula. Each movement is solemn and graceful, without outward extravagance, particularily due to Confucianism's influence. Even though dancers were accompanied by splendid stage settings and costumes, their movements were never dramatic, but always serene and self-composed.

Chinese court dances began to be imported from Song (Sung) China during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). These mostly followed simple formulas. For instance, dancers would divide themselves into lines moving forward or backward together or facing each other. Whatever the case, their left and right arms moved together with their left and right legs. The lines move symmetrically left and right and then would disperse into four groups. They would then converge again at the center. Their costumes and props differed by theme and role. This required a variety of different garments, shoes, extended sleeves of different lengths and colors, belts, and coronets. A king's procession also requires a variety of dignified props, such as long-handled dragon, phoenix, peacock fans, a short-handled lotus, plantain, and five-leaf fans.

In accordance with the theory of the five cardinal elements of the cosmos, all costumes were designed in red, blue, yellow, white, and black. To heighten the visual effect, all court dancers wore sleeve extensions, called hansam, over the hands. Court music accompanying dance usually has a slow beat and produces a solemn yet magnificent ambiance. The common times are 20/1, 16/1, 12/1, 10/1, and 4/1.

The stage props are often referred to in the names of court dances. A court dance is called heonseondo (peach-offering dance) if a silver tray appears as a prop, bosangmu (treasure table dance) if a lotus-flower jar on a service table appears, seonyurak (boating dance) if a boat appears, and pogurak (ball-throwing dance) if a ball and goal-posts appear.

Early court dances followed strict styles and rules. In performing dances imported from China, jukganja, or pole bearers, led the way for the premier dancers at the start, who sang gueo and chieo Chinese songs in Korean pronunciation. In the indigenous Korean court dances there were no pole bearers, and dancers lifted and lowered themselves backwards and forwards as they sang. These distinctions became blurred as Chinese and Korean dances influenced each other from the late Joseon period.

The outstanding pieces of this period include Chunaengjeon, Cheoyongmu, and Jinju geommu (Jinju sword dance). Chunaengjeon was created by Crown Prince Hyomyeong. Of all the court dances, this piece is the sole remnant with steps recorded in detail and it is still frequently performed today.

The story goes like this: one morning Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty heard the beautiful twitter of a nightingale. The king ordered the court musician Bai Ming-da to record the lovely tune in musical notation. To this music, a dance piece was attached later. It was later transmitted to Japan.

However, in Korea, Chunaengjeon has its own story, form, and music. One balmy spring day, Crown Prince Hyomyeong, listening to the flute-like twitter of a nightingale sitting on a willow tree, instructed a court musician to record its song. Then he wrote the following poem:

A wind from the Wolhabo Levee ripples my silk sleeves.

I see the face of my beloved in a flower.

The Dance of the Spring Nightingale is perhaps the loveliest of all.

Later, a court musician, Kim Jang-ha, created a dance to accompany the song. Of the numerous court pieces choreographed in the Joseon era, Chunaengjeon and Musanhyang are both pas seul (solo dance), which are rare today. Chunaengjeon integrates the full range of beautiful movements seen in most court dances. The bewitching pose of the dancer, her quiet movements and enigmatic smile which all take place in front of a spring blossom, is testament to the Korean ideal of dance captured in the adage "overdone is worse than undone."

Chunaengjeon conveys a traditional feminine image expressing the delicate mood and slow movements of a professional woman entertainer. Musanhyang is performed in the nimble. The Chunaengjeon dancer wears a large coronet and yellow court suit, dancing gracefully on a mat woven with a floral pattern. The accompanying music is called Yeongsan hoesang (a chamber suite for the Buddhist Dance honoring the sacred mountain Yeongsan).

Another court dance is called Cheoyongmu. Cheoyongmu is the sole mask dance inherited through court tradition. This free and masculine dance was used to expel the evil spirits and performed at the end of the year. It was initially performed as a pas seul. The dancer wore a black robe, a court official's headgear, and a red mask (red was believed to ward off evil spirits). Later, it became a dance for five persons, with the dancers dressed in five colors, white, blue, red, green, and yellow, reflecting the concept of the five cardinal elements.

The earlier masks in Cheoyongmu were all gigantic, as if to be more effective at driving away evil spirits. The use of space in this dance was much more complicated than that in other dances.

Jinju Geommu, which originated from the court repertory, has been handed down from Jinju. This production is considered highly artistic, as it preserves both the archetypal form of the court sword dance and the special techniques developed on the southern coast.

The difference between the sword dance of the courts and that which evolved in Jinju tradition is summed up as follows: the former is performed by four dancers, the latter by eight; the former is accompanied by taryeong jangdan, or the rhythmic cycle of folk ballads; the latter by yeombul jangdan, or the rhythmic cycle of Buddhist invocations which builds up to a very fast pace.

The special movements which make the Jinju sword dance distinctive are sugeun sawi, ipchum sawi, bingsak sawi, bangseok dori, and yeonpungdae. The dancers start with bare hands and take up their swords later. They wear extended white sleeves at first, then take them off and perform varied motions with their bare hands. The overall pattern of the dance resembles a military march.


Folk Dances

Korean folk dances are close to the lives of the people. They sprang from a variety of communal rituals, festive occasions, and cooperative labor. When they were made and who made them are, of course, unknown. They came forth spontaneously through the years, and their style differs slightly according to region.

The indispensable recipe for folk dances is a theme from the lives of working people, which give them their own unique regional flavor. While court dances aimed at artistic quality and featured special sequences in choreography, folk dances were improvised, revealing their rather unpolished styles. Rhythmic patterns accompanying them range over those of yeombul (6/1), taryeong (12/1), gutgeori (12/8), and southern sanjo (solo instrument with drum accompaniment).

Folk dances originated in prayers for good crops in shaman rituals, or evolved from communal forms of entertainment. Talchum (mask dance), salpurichum, hallyangmu (dance of young playboy noblemen), nammu (the dance of a professional female entertainer wearing a blue male robe), and ganggangsuwollae (a female roundelay accompanied by that refrain) are those most familiar to the public.

As these dances grew out of the lives of the people, they all share similar traits but are performed in a variety of styles. Their plots and choreography are simple, revealing the essential fun-loving character of rural life.


Seungmu (monk dance)

The seungmu is a solo dance that is a mixture of flowing movements and tense, sudden stillness. The flutter of white sleeves soaring in the air, the serenity hidden in the shades of a white hood, a breathtaking pause, and then a soul-stirring movement contribute to the singular uniqueness of the seungmu. Yi Mae-bang's solo monk dance is a showcase of the core techniques required in all traditional dances. His style is full of vitality. Each movement is broad and powerful, and none is repeated.

The seungmu integrates the eight rhythmic cycles: yeombul, dodeuri (6/4), taryeong, jajin taryeong, gutgeori (12/8), dwit gutgeori, gujeong nori, and saesanjo. Every now and then, when one rhythm shifts to another, the dancer changes the mood by changing his steps.

The visual aesthetic of the seungmu centers on the extended white sleeves of the dancer which gently undulate while he holds his breath and bobs his head.

Because of its refined style, the seungmu was designated as Intangible Cultural Property No. 27. After branching off from Buddhist ceremonial dances, it became widespread, together with the geommu. It was an indispensable subject of study in the professional dance training centers during ancient times. These centers include gyobang, dance schools which trained female entertainers, and gwonbeon, a more comprehensive school for female entertainers. A dancer who did not know the seungmu was not considered a real dancer. While everyone interprets the dance according to his or her own tastes and experiences, when all is said and done, it is vividly remembered for the expressive flow of the dancer's long sleeves against the hollow space of the stage.


Salpuri (Spirit-cleansing dance)

Salpuri means literally to wash away evil spirits. Usually a mudang (shaman) presided over the process. Shamanism is a long-held East Asian tradition which in Korea emerged around the Three Kingdoms era. Salpuri was the climax of shaman rituals. Its representative by-product is the unique salpuri rhythmic cycle that has been adapted in other performing arts. Salpuri is prevalent in the Honam region, the southwestern part of Korea, in the form of ssitgimgut, the soul cleansing shaman rite. This is regarded as the archetype of the present salpurichum which uses a white silk scarf as a key prop.

The salpurichum dance has been polished over the centuries to add artistic value, and so it is hard today to trace it back to a mere exorcism rite. It was performed in shaman rites accompanied by the rhythms of sinawi (featuring an extensively improvised ensemble with wind and percussion instruments) to attract the interest of spectators. As it was refined into an artistic artform, salpuri was called in different names such as ipchum, jeukheungchum or sugeonchum.

Although it derived from shaman rites, salpuri does not carry out any religious function. The dancer, attuning herself to the sorrowful sinawi music, portrays sadness and anxiety in her every step. During this process, the dancer's movement reveals striking energy and movement as she performs in a trance-like state.

Salpuri's rhythmic normal font cycle starts out with slow-paced sinawi rhythms and gradually builds up speed, which conveys the dancer's excitement.

The sanjo dance is akin to the salpurichum but the dancer does not carry a scarf. Its usually solo instrumental music was adopted from sinawi and shaman music. Kim Jin-geol, Song Beom, Choe Hyeon, Kim Baek-bong, and other trailblazers of traditional dance favored it in the 1970s.

The basic rhythmic cycles of sanjo dance blend the slow rhythmic mood of jinyangjo (18/8), the walking-paced rhythm of jungjungmori (12/8), and the quick and violent rhythm of jajinmori (12/8). The music combines the sorrowful mood of gyemyeonjo and the lyrical mood of ujo. The dance also mixes sorrowful and lyrical moods. The word jeongjungdong, a term meaning "Motion amidst repose" was first used to describe this dance.

The salpurichum is largely divided into three styles, each represented by Han Yeong-suk, Kim Suk-ja and Yi Mae-bang. They share the same basic structure, but differ in fundamental respects. Han Yeong-suk's style, which was handed down in the capital area, is an upper-class female style of graceful simplicity. Yi Mae-bang's style is vivacious and reflects the tastes of the southwestern region, even though the original music is from Gyeonggi-do province. The scarf is the key prop which enriches the spatial layout of the dance. Kim Suk-ja's line is based on shaman rites performed as open-air entertainment. It shares the same serene character of the Gyeonggi-do shaman dance, with its lavish use of hand, foot, and neck gestures.

"Gut," or shaman rites, and nong-ak or farmers' percussion music, both combine ritualistic and entertainment features. There are three major dance styles related to the gut. One is the ogugut, also called ssitgimgut, performed for spiritual cleansing. Another is jaesugut, performed to invoke good fortune and peace of the family; the other is seonanggut, a gut performed by the community to invoke its well-being.

Ogugut, as it is called in Gangwon-do and Gyeongsang-do provinces, is a shaman rite for the dead. It is called jinogwigut in the capital area. Jaesugut is a shaman rite praying for the well-being of a family. Byeolsin-gut, a communal shaman rite, varies by region and time of year and thus is called by many different names. Danogut or danoje is the spring festival held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Shaman ritual dances have a look quite distinct from those of court and folk dances. The shaman, holding a hand bell in his/her right hand and a fan painted with the Buddhist triad in his left, repeatedly jumps on both feet in one spot. In particular, the unique hoesinmu step, where the dancer spins only to the left, is believed to be an invocation of spirits.

Korea was primarily an agrarian society until recently. The nong-ak, or the farmers' percussion band music and dance, was therefore a popular performing art that could be seen across the nation, with slightly varying traditions according to each region.

The origin of nong-ak, according to one theory, is related to the sowing and harvesting of fields. It says a percussion band used to visit every house in a community to drive away evil spirits around lunar new year. Another theory traces it back to military music. It claims that, in order to prepare farmers for war, they were given military training and during such sessions, music and dance were played, thereby starting what is nong-ak today. A third theory is that a group of mendicant Buddhist monks who went from house-to-house to collect money wearing hoods and playing an ensemble of daegeum, a large transverse flute, sogeum, a small flute, saenap, a conical wooden oboe, buk, a barrel drum, and jeo, a small flute, gave rise to nong-ak. Villagers modeled their entertainment after these mendicant monks, which then spread nationwide.

There are three regional styles of music and dance of the farmers' percussion band divided by geographical area: the urban style of the capital region, the Udo nong-ak of the southwestern rice plain, and the Jwado nong-ak of the central and southeastern hills.

In the southwestern region, performers wear felt hats and simple garments, and are nimble in movement. Performers of the southeastern region wear floral hoods and colorful garments and show off their skills in groups. Performers of the capital region wear both felt hats and floral coronets and are dressed in plain garments. Their dance seems to be a reenactment of the farm labor they used to perform in the fields.


Religious Dances

Genuine religious dances of Korea are seen at Buddhist ceremonies, at Jongmyo, the Royal Ancestral Shrine of the Joseon Dynasty, and at Munmyo, the Confucian shrine in Seonggyun-gwan (the National Confucian University). Buddhist ceremonies are accompanied by solemn music and dance. The music is called beompae and the dances jakbeop.

Jakbeop, literally "creating the Dharma," consists of three parts: nabichum (butterfly dance), barachum (cymbal dance), and beopgochum (Buddhist law drum dance). These dances offer prayers for the spirits of the deceased and act as a means to guide believers into the Land of Bliss. The music ensemble includes chants, a drum, a gong, and a conical wooden oboe. The dances introduced below are offered in the Buddhist ceremonies and Confucian and ancestral rites.

Nabichum (butterfly dance): The dancers are costumed to resemble butterflies. The choreography makes use of about 15 kinds of movements. In front of an altar is hung a huge Buddhist scroll painting. A pair of monks perform the dance with slow and serene movements to the accompaniment of a large gong, or hotsori and a chant which lasts four or five minutes.

Barachum (cymbal dance): Buddhist monks dance with a small cymbal called para. The cymbal dance is composed of six parts: cheonsu bara, myeong bara, sadarani bara, gwanyokge bara, mak bara, and naerimge bara.

Beopgochum (Buddhist law drum dance): A monk beats a drum with a drumstick in each hand. Along with the temple bell and a wooden fish, the Buddhist drum is one of the indispensable Buddhist ceremonial instruments.

Ilmu (line dance): This dance is performed in the Confucian rite in Munmyo, a Confucian shrine, and in the ancestral rite located at Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon Dynasty. The Ilmu dance varies according to the social rank of the person being honored. For instance, the rite offered to the king, the pal-ilmu, is composed of eight rows of eight dancers, or 64 dancers, the rite for the queen, the yuk-ilmu, of six rows of six, or 36 dancers, and those for reverend Confucian scholars and high-ranking court functionaries, the sa-ilmu, of four rows of four, or 16 dancers.

Confucian ceremonial music has its origin in China's Zhou Dynasty. It was introduced into Korea in the 11th year (1116) of King Yejong of the Goryeo Dynasty. The dance has been offered in the rites honoring Chinese Confucian sages, including Kongzi (Confucius), Mengzi (Mencius), Cengzi, and Yanzi, and Korean Confucian sages including Seol Chong and Choe Chi-won.

The ilmu dance, performed in the royal ancestral rite held in Jongmyo, is based on the Confucian concepts of courtesy. It is divided into two categories, munmu (civil dance), honoring literary and scholarly achievement, and mumu (military dance) honoring military feats. The civil dance is performed with dancers holding a flute in one hand and a dragon-headed stick in the other. The dancers in the front rows of the military dance hold swords, while those in the middle rows hold spears; and those in the rear rows hold bows and arrows.

The ilmu dance, offered in the Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine, has preserved its original form intact. It is strictly regulated according to the procedure recorded in detail in Siyong mubo (Notations of Korean Dance). The music played in the ancestral rite strictly follows the principle of "introduction, development, turn, and conclusion."


Mask Dances

Mask dances have been handed down under the name of talchum, Sandae nori, Ogwangdae, and Yayu, each rooted in a different region.

During ancient times masks were believed to drive away malicious spirits, diseases, and fearsome animals. Their purposes were: first, to ward off all evils; second, to manifest supernatural beings; third, to honor the deceased; and fourth, to represent totemic animals.

Korean mask dances evolved from dances, music, and dramas performed during Palgwanhoe, the court ceremonies of the Goryeo dynasty, during Yeondeunghoe, a Buddhist ceremony held to pray for the nation's peace and the well-being of the people, and during Narye, the shaman rite held on the lunar New Year's Eve to ward off evils.

Korean mask dances date back to the court entertainments of the Silla Kingdom, such as Cheoyongmu, the masked dance celebrating the life of Cheoyong, and Hyangak Ogi (Five Masked Entertainments). The latter originated from China and Central Asia. It combines Geumhwan (Ball Game Masked Dance), Woljeon (Mime Farce or Comic Masked Dance), Daemyeon (Talismanic Masked Dance), Sokdok, (Acrobatic Masked Dance), and Sanye (Lion Mask Dance).

Sanye, a lion masked dance drama that reached Silla from India through Central Asia and China, is related to the lion masked dance drama of Japan's Kigaku as well as to Korea's many masked dance dramas, including Bukcheong Saja noreum, Bongsan talchum, Suyeong Yayu, and Tongyeong Ogwangdae.

The Joseon court established an office to manage the masked dances and dramas. This court style of entertainment gradually evolved into diverse forms that became dispersed throughout the country.

The dominant themes of these masked dances and dramas are: first, to relieve the anger of the commoners against the ruling class; second, to make fun of debauched monks; third, to expose the triangular relationship between husband, wife, and concubine; and fourth, to encourage virtue and punish vice.

Mask dances in Korea have been handed down by different regional style: the Hwanghae-do province's Haeseo style, such as Bongsan, Gangnyeong, and the Eennyul Mask Dances; the Gyeonggi-do province's Yangju Byeolsandae and Songpa Sandae Mask Dances; the Gyeongsangnam-do province's Suyeong Yayu, Dongnae Yayu, Ggasan Ogwangdae, Tongyeong Ogwangdae, and Goseong Ogwangdae; Gyeongsangbuk-do province's Hahoe Byeolsin-gut; Gangwon-do province's Gwanno Mask Dance; and the Namsadangpae (Male Itinerant Entertaining Troupe of the Northern Line) Deotboegichum Mask Dance.

The common instruments for the melodic and rhythmic support of mask dances are piri, a double-reed cylindrical oboe, jeotdae, or transverse flute, janggu (or janggo), an hourglass-shape drum, kkwaenggwari, a hand-held gong, and haegeum, a two-stringed fiddle. The instrumental ensemble differs by region. Gyeonggi-do province uses six instruments called yugak: two piri; one daegeum; one haegeum; one janggu, and one buk.