ABSTRACT 
 
 
 
 
Title of Document: KOREAN DANCE AND PANSORI IN D.C.: 
INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS, THE 
BODY, AND COLECTIVE MEMORY AT A 
KOREAN PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO 
  
 Lauren Rebeca Ash-Morgan, M.A., 2009 
  
Directed By: Profesor Robert C. Provine 
School of Music 
 
 
 This thesis is the result of seventen months? field work as a dance and 
pansori student at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio. It examines the 
studio experience, focusing on thre levels of interaction. First, I describe 
participants? interactions with each other, which create a strong studio community 
and a women?s ?Korean space? at the intersection of culturaly hybrid lives. Second, 
I examine interactions with the physical chalenges presented by these arts and 
explain the satisfaction that these chalenges can generate using Csikszentmihalyi?s 
theory of ?optimal experience? or ?flow.? Third, I examine interactions with 
discourse on the meanings and histories of these arts. I suggest that participants can 
find deeper significance in performing these arts as a result of this discourse, forming 
intelectual and emotional bonds to imagined people of the past and present. Finaly, I 
explain how al these levels of interaction can foster in the participant an increasingly 
rich and complex identity. 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KOREAN DANCE AND PANSORI IN D.C.: INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS, 
THE BODY, AND COLECTIVE MEMORY AT A KOREAN PERFORMING 
ARTS STUDIO 
 
 
 
By 
 
 
Lauren Rebeca Ash-Morgan 
 
 
 
 
 
Thesis submited to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the 
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfilment 
of the requirements for the degre of 
Master of Arts 
2009 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Advisory Commite: 
Dr. Robert C. Provine, Chair 
Dr. J. Lawrence Witzleben 
Dr. Boden Sandstrom 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
? Copyright by 
Lauren Rebeca Ash-Morgan 
2009 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
Preface 
 In the summer of 2009, I joined the Washington Korean Dance Company?s 
dance and pansori (Korean singing) clases. I intended to stay for only a few months 
at the studio, interviewing participants and participating a litle myself. What was 
meant to be a short fieldwork project expanded as I remained at the studio for more 
than sixten months and decided to continue studying there for some time to come. 
My journey from my original role as a novice ethnomusicologist doing her first major 
fieldwork to a regular member of the dance studio brought unexpected chalenges as 
my status changed from outsider seking information with litle to lose in the way of 
social relationships to a relatively young student at the school seking the approval of 
my teachers and aceptance by my felow students and members of the wider Korean 
community.  
 As my teachers and I began to recognize potential in my dance and singing, I 
began to aspire to grow as a learner, performer, and future teacher of Korean 
performing arts whose learning and future carer in these arts depend upon the 
support of my teachers and my demonstrable ability to fit into Korean social and 
learning situations. This presented new chalenges and transformed my field work; 
whereas I had originaly planned to rely primarily on interviews for information, I 
came to rely more on the knowledge gained from long-term participation in the 
studio, interaction with its members, and embodied knowledge of the proces of 
learning Korean dance and song in this particular seting. 
 This thesis presents some of these experiences and explores what the studio 
offers to its participants. It focuses first on the studio as a Korean linguistic and 
 
 ii 
 
cultural space which can potentialy strengthen both Korean identity among its 
members through participation in the arts and a sense of belonging to the studio?s 
close knit community of women. Second, this thesis examines the chalenges 
presented by the physicality of these arts and how these chalenges can give the 
participant a sense of satisfaction, even over the course of many months or years of 
study. Third, it examines the role of discourse about the history and meanings of the 
dances and songs, and how these and other culturaly-coded aspects of these arts can 
enrich the experience of learning them.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iv 
 
Note on Romanization 
 
 I have used the Korean government?s Revised Romanization system for 
Romanization of Korean terms, with the exception of individuals? names which are 
speled acording to the preferences of those individuals. The first time each name 
appears, I have also given its speling in Korean and Revised Romanization for 
consistency  (National Academy of the Korean Language 2000). In references to 
other publications in English, I have only given the name of each author as it appears 
in the publication. For Korean names in general, I have put family names first and 
given names second, as is customary in Korea, except when refering to authors of 
publications in English who have published their writing using the opposite name 
order. 
 
 
 v 
 
Dedication 
 
To my teachers, 
who give students like me the gifts of new intelectual, cultural, and artistic worlds, 
and to my family, 
who prepared me to receive them. 
 
 
 vi 
 
Acknowledgements 
 I have many people to thank for helping me complete this thesis. First, my 
advisor, Dr. Provine, whose teaching and guidance in this thesis have been invaluable 
to me and who always responds to my shortcomings with support, useful criticism, 
and cheer. His knowledge as a scholar on Korea, generosity in sharing his knowledge 
and resources, and high expectations delivered with good wil have helped me to 
grow as a student of ethnomusicology during the proces of preparing this thesis far 
beyond the level I was at when I began. Although this brief thesis cannot 
demonstrate the entirety of my newly-acquired knowledge and growth as a scholar, I 
trust that my future body of work wil demonstrate the depth and breadth of 
knowledge that I gained during the preparation of this thesis, due in large part to Dr. 
Provine?s guidance. 
 Next I would like to thank Dr. Witzleben and Dr. Sandstrom for their teaching 
during my years as a graduate student here and for their help in preparing this thesis. 
Their comments on this thesis have been extremely useful and I greatly appreciate the 
time they devoted to helping me with it.  
 I am very grateful my dance teacher, Kim Eun Soo Seonsaengnim, the founder 
and director of the Washington Korean Dance Company, for al that she has done for 
me. When she alowed me to join clases at the dance studio, she opened up a new 
world to me at a time when I was struggling to make any contacts in the Korean 
community. In her clases I found new happines in dancing, and I appreciate her 
teaching and the beauty of her dancing each day. I am also grateful to her for 
alowing me to interview her, for introducing me to the other women at the studio, 
 
 vii 
 
and for encouraging me to sing. It was also because of her entering me into the Korea 
Times? singing competition at the 2008 KORUS Festival that many new opportunities 
opened up for me to experience the Korean community here, and I wil never forget 
that.  
 I would also like to thank my wonderful pansori teacher Kim Eunsu 
Seonsaengnim, who is so supportive of her students and brings out voices we never 
knew e had. Without her enthusiastic encouragement, I never would have had the 
opportunity to grow through performing as I have over the last year and a half and to 
se so much of the Korean community in the proces. She has been not only a 
teacher, mentor, and guide, but also a close friend. I am very grateful for her 
generosity in teaching me, her faith in me as a performer, and her friendship.  
 I am also very grateful to Bae Jung-Lan Seonsaengnim for her teaching and 
for continualy modeling a level of dancing that I aspire to. I also thank the rest of the 
women in the Washington Korean Dance Company?s dance clases for the 
experiences we share together at the studio. It is a joy to be able to se you al every 
wek and dance next to you. I am equaly grateful to the members of the pansori 
clases at the studio and the other members of Washington Sorichung (
	/"  
?;R , Wosingteon Soricheong) for the shared experience of singing together every 
wek and performing together. It is thriling to sing together with women possesing 
such powerful voices. 
 I also thank Yang In-seok Seonsaengnim, Helen Shin, and the rest of the 
Washington Kayo Charity Asociation (WKCA) for making me a member of their 
group and alowing me to learn about another subgroup within the Korean community 
 
 vii 
 
here through the performance of teuroteu (_?_ ) and other genres of gayo (>
 ). 
I especialy thank Yang Seonsaengnim for al of his gayo coachings.  
 I am also grateful to Melanie Pinkert for her lesons in gayageum, Sebastian 
Wang for his lesons in janggu, and my current English students at the Washington 
Language Institute, through whom I constantly learn new things about life in Korea 
and what it is like to live as a Korean imigrant in Maryland. Thank you also to my 
friends and coworkers in Korea who gave me such a positive experience there. 
Without them, I might never have gone in this direction in the first place. I am 
especialy grateful to my friend Jenny and the other members of Bethany Presbyterian 
Church in Seoul, who gave me as a going-away present my first hanbok. It has 
repeatedly served as my performance atire when singing pansori, and without it I 
would not have been able to participate in many of our public pansori performances. 
 Thank you to my grandparents for always being such inspirations to me. 
Finaly, thank you to my parents for their support, for raising me and my brother to do 
what we do, and for being adventurous enough to take part in our increasingly 
culturaly hybrid lives. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ix 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
Preface...........................................................i 
Note on Romanization...............................................iv 
Dedication.........................................................v 
Acknowledgements.................................................vi 
Table of Contents...................................................ix 
List of Figures.....................................................xi 
Chapter 1: Introduction...............................................1 
Theoretical Concerns...............................................3 
Artistic Practices and the Creation of Community.......................3 
Cultural Space..................................................4 
Authenticity, Ownership, Transmision...............................5 
Culture, Cultural Hybrids, Diasporic Community as a Third Space..........7 
?Optimal Experience? or ?Flow?...................................11 
Identity......................................................12 
A Note on Labels: Korean, Korean American.........................16 
Literature Review................................................18 
Korean Performing Arts in the United States..........................18 
Korean Dance.................................................18 
Dance in Ethnomusicology.......................................21 
Pansori and Korean Music.......................................22 
Music in Asian American Contexts.................................23 
Korean American Populations.....................................29 
Gender in Ethnomusicology.......................................31 
Korean Women in Korea.........................................34 
Methodology: The When and Where of the Field Work....................39 
Thesis Overview.................................................41 
Chapter 2: Interacting with Others: Creating Korean Diasporic Space and Community 
at the Intersection of Culturaly Hybrid Lives.............................44 
The Fieldwork Seting.............................................44 
The Area Surounding the Studio...................................44 
The Washington Dance Company Studio.............................48 
The Beginner Clas...............................................56 
Introduction...................................................56 
The Dance Gibon (?  , ?Basic?)..................................58 
Other dances in the beginner clas..................................63 
The Advanced Clas..............................................72 
Pansori Clases..................................................74 
The Symbiotic Relationship Betwen the Arts and the Studio Community.....77 
Cultural Space, Community Practices, and Identity.......................78 
The WKDC Studio as a Korean Space and Korean Identity...............78 
The Studio as a Women?s Community...............................82 
Communal Eforts and Identity as a Member of the Studio...............85 
 
 x 
 
Authenticity, Ownership, and Performance: Maintaining the Status of the Studio87 
Chapter 3: Interacting with the Body: Chalenges of Korean Dance and Pansori, and 
the Potential for ?Optimal Experience? or ?Flow?..........................90 
Introduction.....................................................90 
?Optimal Experience,? or ?Flow?....................................91 
Applying Csikszentmihalyi?s Theory to Korean Dance....................93 
Meot and Heung.................................................94 
Repetition and Variation...........................................96 
Aging as a Dance Student, Dancing as One Ages........................107 
Physical Transformations.........................................108 
Extensions of the Body...........................................111 
The Importance of Training in Korean Dance..........................112 
Conclusion....................................................116 
Chapter 4: Interacting with Discourse, Memory, and History: Generating Personal 
Meaning........................................................119 
Introduction: Beyond Chalenges and Focus: Creating Meanings............119 
Deper Meanings of Dances.......................................121 
Seungmu....................................................121 
Shamanism, Korean National Identity, and Gender....................124 
Salpuri......................................................128 
Gibangmu, Remembering Gisaeng................................132 
Women of Jeolla-do.............................................140 
Namdo Minyo and Pansori......................................140 
Ganggangsullae...............................................142 
Grace, Strength, and Gender: The Potential for Korean Dance and Pansori to Open 
Up New Performative Possibilities on Stage and in Life..................146 
Conclusion....................................................152 
Chapter 5: Conclusion.............................................159 
Future Directions of Study.........................................159 
Thesis Summary................................................161 
Bibliography.....................................................167 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 xi 
 
List of Figures 
Figure 1: Key to Strokes on Janggu.....................................65 
Figure 2: Basic Taryeong Jangdan.....................................66 
Figure 3: Basic Jajinmori Jangdan.....................................66 
Figure 4: Basic Gutgeori Jangdan......................................67 
Figure 5: Basic Eonmori Jangdan......................................69 
Figure 6: Basic Hwimori Jangdan......................................69 
Figure 7: Sample Realizations of Gutgeori on Janggu......................100 
Figure 8: Sample Interpretations of Gutgeori in Dance.....................102 
Figure 9: A Sampling of Dances Practiced at the WKDC Studio and their Props..112 
  
 
 1 
 
Chapter 1: Introduction 
  
 The study of universals and specifics has long been a part of the 
ethnomusicological and anthropological canon (se Netl 2005: 42-59), producing a 
wide variety of studies and approaches, from Lila Abu-Lughod?s ?ethnographies of 
the particular? (1991), which disrupt images of cultural homogeneity by focusing on 
the specifics of a particular group of individuals, to the use of Arjun Appadurai?s 
?-scapes? (1990; 1991) in macro-level studies such as Su Zheng?s disertation on 
Chinese music in New York City (1993) and Mark Slobin?s exploration of levels of 
comparison betwen music-cultures using the broad categories of superculture, 
subculture, and interculture (1993). This thesis is an ?ethnography of the particular,? 
although it certainly may become part of larger comparative studies in the future. 
Although this thesis concerns performing arts that are part of a diaspora with links to 
the home country, and the isues I examine here may also be common in other similar 
setings, I examine the fieldwork site almost entirely at the local level. 
 This thesis forms a smal piece of an underexplored area in ethnomusicology: 
the presence and use of Korean performing arts in Korean diasporic communities in 
the United States. Despite the existence of many Korean music and dance studios in 
the U.S., litle has been writen on this topic, with the exceptions of Judy Van Zile 
(2001; 1996) and R. Anderson Sutton (1987), who have writen about Korean dance 
and music in Hawai?i, and Ronald Riddle, whose article on Korean music in Los 
Angeles was published in the Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, Volume VI: Asian 
Music in North America (1985). Thus far, nothing sems to have been writen about 
 
 2 
 
Korean performing arts on the East Coast of the United States, and much that was 
writen earlier about Los Angeles and Hawai?i is now out of date.  
 The field work for this thesis takes place at the Washington Korean Dance 
Company studio, which is situated on the edge of Fals Church, Virginia, a few miles 
from Annandale, and is part of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. With the 
third largest Korean comunity in the United States (after Los Angeles and New 
York), the D.C. area is wel worth examining as a site for Korean diasporic studies, 
and the town of Annandale is the main center of the area?s Korean community, with a 
high concentration of Korean busineses and places to socialize. 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company (abbreviated in this thesis as 
WKDC) studio houses a profesional dance company, dance clases for tenagers, 
and community dance clases for adults. Al the participants in these clases are 
women and, with the exception of me, al are of Korean ancestry. Most of the women 
in the adult clases were born in Korea and imigrated to the United States as adults, 
whereas many of the girls in the clases for tenagers were born and/or raised in the 
U.S. The studio also hosts clases in pansori (x?; , Korean epic song and 
storyteling), gayageum (>	?? , stringed instrument plucked with the fingers), and 
janggu (
b? , hourglas-shaped drum). Al of these clases are taught by experts 
who majored in the instruments they teach. Although al these clases are currently 
housed in the dance studio, the teachers have come together to plan a more 
comprehensive Korean Performing Arts Center, which wil have separate 
instructional areas for dance, pansori, gayageum, and janggu and wil give equal 
weight to dance and music. 
 
 3 
 
 This thesis focuses on two community adult clases and two pansori clases 
which take place at the dance studio. Existing within a large Korean community, the 
studio makes up a subculture within a subculture, and each of the studio?s clases is 
its own micro-culture existing at the intersection of the individual lives which 
comprise it. The studio is also part of the larger Korean diaspora and is connected to 
practices in Korea. As a result, although this thesis focuses on a single studio, it may 
inform larger studies at a more macro level, forming a piece of more general studies 
about Korean performing arts, subcultures in the United States, and diasporic 
?intercultures? (Slobin 1993).  
Theoretical Concerns 
Artistic Practices and the Creation of Comunity 
 This thesis examines a variety of ways in which the Washington Korean 
Dance Company studio can contribute to the lives of its participants, with a particular 
focus on individual identity. It also examines how the social nature of the studio and 
the dance forms studied there fed one another, offering up a variety of benefits to 
suit the varying needs and backgrounds of the participants. I argue that the types of 
dance taught at the studio are innately suited to the formation and long-term 
continuation of the studio?s community. At the same time, studio practices such as 
the sharing of food and conversing in Korean set the studio apart from many other 
artistic spaces, including some other Korean dance studios in the area, so that women 
may remain members of the studio for many years primarily because of its strong 
sense of community. Thus, there is a symbiotic relationship betwen the arts and the 
community of the studio, as each thrives because of the other; this is a community 
 
 4 
 
which exists for the purpose of studying Korean performing arts, but at the same time, 
the study of arts there flourishes because of particular community-building practices.  
Cultural Space 
 A major theoretical component of this thesis is the creation of cultural space. 
In this case, the studio creates a space that is both linguisticaly and culturaly Korean 
and serves as a women?s space. Many Korean spaces exist in Annandale, Virginia, 
and to a leser extent, in other towns surrounding Washington, D.C. The presence of 
such spaces makes it possible for Korean and Korean-American residents of the area 
to engage in a variety of levels of involvement with Koreans and non-Koreans, and 
the women at the studio come from a variety of backgrounds; some live their lives 
primarily in Korean spaces, of which the studio is just one, while others operate 
mostly in English-language environments away from other Koreans and come to the 
studio in order to be in a Korean space. Most of the women at the studio fal 
somewhere betwen these two extremes. The studio offers up a great deal to 
participants from any part of this continuum. Although for some people it is just one 
of many Korean spaces from which to choose, the communal nature of the studio and 
the shared goal of learning Korean dance and music make this particular space 
diferent from most others. This thesis explores that diference and how the arts are 
uniquely able to bring these women together. 
 Performance of identity is also intimately related to the concepts of 
community and cultural space as the women can use dance and music to perform 
Korean national/ethnic identity, local group identity as members of the studio 
community, and a range of other identities such as spirituality and gender.  
 
 5 
 
Authenticity, Ownership, Transmision 
 This thesis also touches on ideas about authenticity, ownership, and 
transmision of dance and music from teacher to student. High quality training of the 
teachers and authenticity based on the Korean national treasure system are both 
important elements in claiming authenticity. Receiving awards from authorities in the 
traditional arts is another important way of gaining prestige. Authenticity must be 
maintained, however, through regulation of performance. This is described in more 
detail in Chapter 2. 
 Edward Bruner presents a useful framework from which to examine the 
concept of authenticity. He defines four diferent ways in which something can 
achieve the status of being labeled ?authentic? (1994): 
 1. Being credible and convincing to the observer 
 2. Resembling the original 
 3. Being the original, rather than a reproduction or copy 
 4. Being certified as valid by an authoritative figure or authoritative body 
 Bruner?s purpose in defining these types of authenticity is not to create a 
definitive measurement for actual authenticity, but instead to examine why people 
perceive some things to be authentic and others inauthentic.  
 In Korea, the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Information (?
  
?
 , Munhwa Gongbobu) and the Commite on Cultural Properties (?

d  
	?

% , Munhwajae Wiwonhoe) of the Cultural Property Preservation Bureau 
(?

d  ?;? , Munhwajae Gwalliguk) play a significant role in designating the 
authenticity of traditional performing arts and the people who practice them.  In this 
 
 6 
 
performing arts world, such formal designations of authenticity are important. The 
Nation Treasure system gives recognition to certain tangible and intangible 
?Important Cultural Asets,? and in the case of traditional performing arts, certain 
dances and pieces of music are labeled Intangible Cultural Properties, while certain 
people are recognized as either holders of these dances or pieces of music or National 
Living Treasures themselves. To be taught by an individual recognized under this 
system gives a dancer or musician greater cultural capital than to be taught by 
someone who is not recognized (se Van Zile 2001: 51-62 for more on the National 
Treasure system and Korean dance). Awards won in competitions also serve as 
important formal designations of authenticity and quality as a performer.  
 Through the National Treasures system, particular styles of dance and pansori 
are pased on through generations of teachers and students, creating schools of dance 
and of pansori. Although there is room for individual style, careful transmision is 
important. As a result, when a student of Korean dance or pansori performs, she (or 
he) is representing not only herself but also her teacher and school.  
 These ideas about transmision and ownership are reflected in practices at the 
Washington Korean Dance Company studio. A song or dance learned at the studio 
does not become the property of the student once it is learned; if she wants to perform 
it, she must obtain her teacher?s permision, and permision may or may not be 
granted.
1
  
                                                
1
 Van Zile similarly notes control over performance at the Hala Huhm Korean dance 
studio in Hawai?i: ?Posted on a bulletin board at the studio in the late 1990s was a 
copy of a leter to students and parents asking them not to use the name of the studio 
or its dances without consulting with Mary Jo Freshley, the woman currently in 
charge of the studio? (2001: 230). 
 
 7 
 
Culture, Cultural Hybrids, Diasporic Comunity as a Third Space 
 The elusivenes of the concept of ?culture? can be a vexing problem in this 
age of transnationalism, global communication, and migration. Zheng (1993), Slobin 
(1993), and others in ethnomusicology have found Appadurai?s concept of ?-scapes? 
particularly useful in theorizing transnationaly-dispersed cultures. Appadurai 
recognizes that people ?are no longer tightly teritorialized, spatialy bounded, 
historicaly unselfconscious, or culturaly homogeneous? (1991: 191), and Gupta and 
Ferguson find that ?we need to ask how to deal with cultural diference while 
abandoning received ideas of (localized) culture? (1992: 7). Abu-Lughod also seks 
to disrupt ideas of homogeneous cultures and cultural diferences ?by focusing solely 
on particular individuals and their changing relationships? (1991: 154). 
 In discussing the Korean community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan 
area, I find Su Zheng?s disertation on Chinese-American music in New York City 
particularly helpful (1993). She describes people in imigrant communities as living 
in two or more worlds at once, part of a triangular relationship betwen the imigrant 
society, the homeland, and the host country. People in this diasporic community may 
remain connected to their homeland through travel, media, or imagination and 
memory. 
 The ?Korean community? of the Washington D.C. area is, of course, a 
partialy ?imagined community?: it is large enough that its members do not al know 
each other personaly, although there are extensive networks of acquaintances and 
friends within the community (Anderson 1983). Although Korean people in the 
Washington D.C. area may not al se each other face to face, the two local Korean-
 
 8 
 
language newspapers se to it that most Korean people in the area know what is going 
on in the ?Korean community,? reporting even on smal events in this community so 
that names and activities of local people may be known even without personal 
communication (as is often the case with local newspapers in any language).  
 These newspapers also report on events in Korea, the United States, and other 
parts of the world. Local Korean-language television and radio stations similarly 
connect members of the local Korean community with each other and with current 
developments in Korea. Fre Korean-language tabloids containing news about 
Korean celebrities can be picked up at many local Korean busineses. These tabloids 
are full of advertisements for local Korean-owned busineses as wel as clasified ads. 
 Events in the Korean community are advertised in the local Korean language 
newspapers and using paper flyers in local Korean busineses. Concerts of guest 
artists from Korea draw large, mostly Korean crowds, since they tend to advertise 
through these media.
2
 The prominence of the local Korean language newspapers as a 
source of information contributes to the feling of a smal, local Korean world, 
separate from the non-Korean world which coexists in the same general geographic 
space. The internet also provides a means for communication and connection within 
the local Korean community and betwen this community, other Korean diasporic 
communities, and Korea. These media-scapes create a body of shared knowledge 
                                                
2
 Many of these are performances of traditional music and dance, showcasing a 
variety of artists in their respective instruments and genres. These performances are 
often sponsored by Korea?s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, among other 
organizations. Current popular music acts from Korea rarely visit the Washington 
D.C. area, opting instead for Los Angeles and/or New York City, although auditions 
by Korean pop management companies looking for future pop stars do come to 
Annandale. 
 
 9 
 
among many members of the local Korean community, which can both unify this 
community?s members and diferentiate them from the non-Korean community.   
 The Washington D.C. Korean community comprises a hybrid culture in which 
Korean cultural elements are inscribed within an American context and take on new 
forms and meanings. Individuals in this community combine Korean and American 
cultural elements to form hybrid lifestyles. The creation of such hybrid lifestyles and 
the transnational nature of the community, both through travel and through exchange 
of knowledge betwen the community and the two countries to which it is connected, 
disrupts the idea of homogenous, geographicaly-based ?cultures,? just as Appadurai 
and Gupta and Ferguson suggest. Yet in order to describe in what ways these 
lifestyles are cultural hybrids, we must use language of cultural diference, 
identifying some lifestyle elements as ?Korean,? others as ?American,? and perhaps 
others as specific to the Korean diasporic community. This might sem to present a 
dilema. Cultural diferences betwen Korea and the United States are real and are 
palpable to people who experience crossing betwen the cultures. Yet the idea of 
?culture? tends to blur diferences betwen individuals in each cultural group, 
creating an undesirable image of homogeneity within each supposed ?culture.? 
 One way of looking at the concept of ?culture? which I find helpful in this 
case is Thomas Turino?s idea of culture as a set of habits shared among people (2008: 
17, 94-95). In order to look at culture, he begins at the level of the individual, 
arguing that the ?self? is comprised of the body of the individual and his or her entire 
set of habits. His use of the word ?habits? is closely related to Bourdieu?s habitus, 
indicating paterns of thought and behavior that are largely shaped by the society in 
 
 10 
 
which one lives but can also be altered through individual agency. Turino defines 
culture as a set of habits that are shared by a group of people (2008: 17, 94-95). 
Thus, one person can belong to many diferent cultures, as he may have some habits 
in common with one group of people and other habits in common with another group.  
 In the case of the Korean community of Washington D.C., this way of 
imagining culture is useful. The lives of individuals in this community contain 
identifiable mixtures of habits shared by many Korean people and habits shared by 
people in the United States. These habits can form based on convenience, social 
presures, personal preferences, and beliefs about others? expectations based on being 
Korean and being in the United States.  
 I propose that a combination of Zheng?s and Turino?s theories produces a 
fairly acurate way to view culture in the Korean community of the Washington D.C. 
area. On a more macro level, people are indeed connected to thre worlds: the United 
States, Korea, and the local Korean community, and transnationalism through travel 
and media is common here. At a more individual level, each person?s lifestyle is 
afected by these thre worlds at the level of habits?habits of daily actions and habits 
of thought. Houses here often contain a mixture of Korean household goods 
purchased in local Korean-owned stores and non-Korean goods, for example. 
Conversations may be in Korean and may follow customs for showing levels of 
respect but be on the topic of American politics or television or the American 
economy.  
 Furthermore, individuals? hybridized lifestyles and ways of interacting may 
change in diferent social situations. This point is important because individuals? 
 
 11 
 
ways of hybridizing the cultures can change in diferent situations. As a result, 
certain situations and spaces draw out diferent combinations of Korean habits and 
American ones. Because of this, certain spaces become sites for the dominance of 
Korean habits. I refer to these as ?Korean spaces? in this thesis and suggest that the 
Washington Korean Dance Company studio is one such Korean space. Korean 
restaurants and other Korean-owned busines also form Korean spaces. Some people 
in the Korean community may live their lives primarily in Korean spaces, while 
others may spend most of their time in non-Korean spaces. The WKDC studio draws 
women from both groups as wel as women who are balanced in betwen these 
extremes. 
?Optimal Experience? or ?Flow? 
 Chapter 3 of this thesis examines the physical experience of dancing at the 
WKDC studio, using psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?s famous concept of 
?optimal experience? or ?flow? (1990). Csikszentmihalyi identifies this as the 
experience of being fully absorbed in an activity to the point that one loses sense of 
time and is completely in the moment. Being ?in the zone? is a common phrase used 
to describe this level of concentration. Csikszentmihalyi finds that such a high level 
of concentration is highly enjoyable and that people may go to great lengths to 
experience it. 
 To reach his conclusions, Csikszentmihalyi interviewed many people who 
described this experience doing a wide variety of activities including music, dance, 
sports, games, and reading. He identifies criteria for the experience of flow, the most 
important of which is a level of chalenge that matches the skils of the individual. 
 
 12 
 
Another important factor is the presence of reachable goals. These and other criteria 
are discussed in Chapter 3 of this thesis. 
 Csikszentmihalyi identifies these criteria in order to suggest ways in which 
almost any activity can be designed to create the experience of flow and thus be 
enjoyable. Csikszentmihalyi pays significant atention to both music and movement 
as conducive to creating the experience of flow. Turino (2008: 4-5, 17, 30-31, 43, 99, 
133, 174-176, 181-182, 185, 233) also applies Csikszentmihalyi?s concept of flow to 
musical experiences, arguing that ?certain types of music-making contain the 
conditions for flow in unique and particularly pronounced ways? (2008: 5). 
Identity 
 Identity is currently a common theme in ethnomusicology, but a recent article 
by Timothy Rice suggests that this term often goes unexplained in 
ethnomusicological writings. After reviewing articles from the journal 
Ethnomusicology which include the words ?identity? or ?identities? in their titles, he 
finds that ethnomusicologists have often neglected to define ?identity,? refer to the 
concept?s use in other disciplines, or even refer to other ethnomusicologists? uses of 
this term (2007). Instead, Rice finds that ?ethnomusicologists who have produced 
this corpus of work sem to take for granted identity as a category of social life and 
social analysis? (2007: 20). As a result, ?the discussion of identity generaly is riven 
with splits, distinctions, and contradictions that ethnomusicologists would do wel to 
consider and respond to? (20-21).  
 Rice identifies two diferent concepts of identity discussed, though not 
actualy defined, in some of the Ethnomusicology articles. The first is what he terms 
 
 13 
 
?individual self-identity? (2007: 21). This kind of identity, he says, ?has taken at 
least two forms in the literature on identity. One is concern for self-definition or self-
understanding that implies questions like who am I and what is my true nature. The 
other is a concern for the psychology of belonging to, identification with, and 
?suturing? to social groups? (2007: 21). Rice describes some studies which might be 
read as addresing these isues and concludes by saying, ?It sems to me that these 
two proceses, creating a sense of self-understanding and self-worth and creating a 
sense of belonging to prexisting social groups, might be caled authoring the self 
through music, especialy through reflection and discourse on one?s own musical 
practice? (23).  
 This kind of identity formation is also described, though in diferent terms, by 
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He describes a dual proces of ?diferentiation? and 
?integration,? which he says produces a more ?complex? individual 
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 41-42). This is kind of identity formation is central to this 
thesis (se Chapter 4 for more on Csikszentmihalyi?s description of this proces and 
how these ideas are applied to this thesis). 
 The second concept of identity described by Rice is ?group identity,? the 
identity of a group of people such as a nation-state. This kind of ?identity,? he says, 
is currently more common in ethnomusicological studies than ?individual self-
identity.? Rice states, ?Identity in most of these cases sems to be about collective 
self-understanding as represented by various characteristics, activities, and customs, 
including music? (24). Ideas about how this kind of identity is formed follow two 
contrasting lines of thought: ?esentialist? and ?constructivist.? The esentialist 
 
 14 
 
position ses identity as a set of timeles, esential qualities that characterize the 
group. Esentialist positions of identity are used in ?the identity politics of 
nationalism, on one hand,? and ?opposition to the powerful from subaltern positions 
defined by ethnicity, race, clas, and gender on the other? (24). In esentialist-
oriented writings on music, music is often said to reflect and symbolize an already-
existing group identity or esence.  
 A constructivist position, on the other hand, ses group identity not as 
something which already exists in some esential form but as a concept which is 
always constructed ?from the cultural resources available at any given moment. 
Rather than durable and stable, identities are contingent, fragile, unstable, and 
changeable? (24). A constructivist viewpoint often tries to discern ?whether, to what 
extent, and how music making and music listening participates in the construction of 
various forms of emerging and changing social identities? (24).  
 Rice writes that the constructivist view has ?gained the upper hand in recent 
work in cultural studies and in ethnomusicology? (24). However, he points out that 
authors of articles which take a constructivist stance ?repeat the mantra that music 
helps to construct social identities? (25) but often ?fal back into a discussion in 
which the social identity already exists, and music?s role is primarily to symbolize, or 
reflect, or give performative life to a pre-existing identity? (25).  
 Rice identifies another common theme in constructivist views of identity: 
?that identity, rather than being unitary, is multiple and fragmented. Instead of a 
single self with enduring, deep, and abiding qualities, we posses multiple selves 
(gendered, racialized, ethnicized, nationalized, and so forth) whose expresion is 
 
 15 
 
contingent on particular contexts and specific performances of the self in those 
contexts? (27). He then goes on to describe the posibility for music to expres 
multiple identities, especialy drawing from Thomas Turino?s use of Peircian 
semiotics.  
 This thesis is mainly concerned with ?individual self-identity,? since it 
examines the experience of studying at the WKDC studio and potential efects of the 
studio experience on the individual. It focuses on the dual proces of becoming a 
more skiled and extraordinary individual (?diferentiation?) and of becoming more 
connected to other people (?integration?) (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 41-42). However, 
the idea of ?group identity? is also an important part of this thesis, as parts of one?s 
?individual self-identity? are often inseparable from, and dependent on, ?group 
identities.?  
 In exploring the proces of ?integration? in this thesis, I do not focus only on 
face to face connections with others; instead I include both face to face connections 
with the ?real? community of the WKDC studio and connections formed with a 
variety of ?imagined communities? of the past and present (such as shamans, gisaeng, 
women of the Jeolla region of Korea, one?s genealogy of teachers, and other 
performers of traditional arts, al of which are discussed in Chapter 4). Emotional and 
intelectual connections with these groups of people contribute to an ?individual self-
identity? that is more ?integrated? with other people, bonded emotionaly and 
intelectualy to a variety of ?imagined communities.?   
 What each of these ?imagined communities? means to the individual depends 
on the existence of some kind of ?group identity? asociated with each of these 
 
 16 
 
communities. How the ?integration? proces afects an individual?s sense of 
?individual self-identity? depends on the ?group identity (or identities)? of each of the 
groups to which she is ?suturing? herself. How she perceives the group to which she 
is ?suturing? herself may be influenced by a ?group identity? shared by the 
individuals within that group, or by a ?group identity? imposed by others upon that 
group. Often, the individual perceives this ?group identity? not through personal 
observation but through discourse about the group. Chapter 4 of this thesis examines 
discourse about certain groups of Korean women and how this can afect an 
individual?s experience at the WKDC studio. 
A Note on Labels: Korean, Korean American 
 Throughout this thesis, I frequently refer to the Washington D.C. metropolitan 
area?s local ?Korean community? or to the people within it as ?Korean.? I may 
occasionaly interchange ?Korean? with ?Korean American,? but in general I use the 
former much more frequently than the later. The reason for this is that the term 
?Korean? is a more inclusive term than ?Korean American? and more acurately 
includes al of this community?s members. This thesis explores a community which 
includes some people who self identify as ?Korean? and others who self identify as 
?Korean American.?  
 The term ?Korean? is often regarded as including both people of Korean 
nationality and people of Korean ethnicity regardles of nationality. The term 
?Korean American,? on the other hand, is limited to people of Korean ethnicity who 
either were born in the United States or imigrated here and have chosen to adopt a 
sense of American identity over time. Sometimes the term ?Korean American? is 
 
 17 
 
reserved for a more specific group: Americans of Korean descent who have been 
raised (and perhaps born) in the United States, do not speak perfect Korean, and are at 
least primarily culturaly American. Within the Korean community of the 
Washington D.C. metropolitan area, even long-term residents who have obtained 
American citizenship after imigrating from Korea are often refered to simply as 
?Korean,? reserving the term ?Korean American? for the second generation in order 
to recognize cultural diferences betwen the two generations.   
 The use of the terms ?Korean? and ?Korean community? to represent 
Washington D.C. metropolitan residents of Korean descent is especialy appropriate 
because of the presence of a considerable number of people who lead transnational 
lives betwen Korea and the United States. Many Korean people come to this area 
for short periods of time and return to Korea, while others stay here for long periods 
of time while thinking of themselves as Korea nationals.  
 Furthermore, within the Korean community around Washington D.C. the term 
?American? is often used specificaly to label non-Koreans, despite the fact that many 
people in the Korean community are American citizens. Even those women in the 
WKDC studio who have lived in the United States for a long time and have American 
citizenship sometimes say about our performances: ?Were there many Americans 
there?? or ?Many people liked the performance. Americans too.? In these contexts, 
?American? means non-Korean, or at least people who do not look Korean. 
 Thus, the terms ?Korean? and ?American? are often used within the local 
Korean community to diferentiate betwen people of Korean descent and everyone 
else, while the term ?Korean-American? is often used within the community here and 
 
 18 
 
in Korea to label someone who is so culturaly American that he has lost (or never 
learned) Korea language and culture. Therefore, in this thesis, I frequently refer to 
the Washington D.C. metropolitan area?s local ?Korean? community, which includes 
people who identify as Korean and those who identify as Korean American.  
Literature Review 
Korean Performing Arts in the United States 
 Sources on Korean dance and music in the United States are almost 
nonexistent. Judy Van Zile?s work on the Hala Huhm Korean dance studio in 
Hawai?i is an exception (2001; 1996). R. Anderson Sutton has also writen some 
about this studio and about Korean music in Hawai?i (1987), primarily reporting on 
Korean traditional musicians in the area, their eforts to teach, and the mostly 
lukewarm interest of the local Korean population. Ronald Riddle?s article on Korean 
music in Los Angeles found that traditional music was al but nonexistent there and 
that most of the Korean population there had no knowledge of it (1985). Many years 
have pased since then, and traditional Korean performing arts groups now sem to be 
much more significant in Korean-American communities in general. Each year in the 
Washington D.C. area, several concerts of guest artists from Korea draw large 
crowds. A number of Korean music and dance studios exist both in the 
Baltimore/Washington D.C. area and in New York City.  
Korean Dance 
 Writings in English on Korean dance in general are scant, but Judy Van Zile?s 
recent book is a major contribution (2001). This book includes an introduction to 
 
 19 
 
dance categories in Korea and to the National Treasure system; chapters on two court 
dances: Cheoyongmu (J

?) and Jinju Geommu (
?
? h? ); chapters on the 
dancers Kim Cheonheung (?L
\ ) and Choe Seung-hui (m	%
%), a chapter 
comparing diferent dance performances meant to suggest shamanistic rituals (with a 
brief section on salpuri), and a chapter on the Hala Huhm Korean dance studio in 
Hawai?i. Christine Loken-Kim?s disertation (1989), includes a great deal of useful 
information about the history of dancers in Korea, with a focus on gisaeng and 
shamans. She also gives efort-shape analysis of Korean dancers from several 
generations, noting apparent generational changes. Her findings are summarized in 
an article as wel (1993). In the disertation, she uses Korean subjects? reactions to 
diferent performances of the dance salpuri to draw conclusions about aesthetics of 
the dance and how these relate to ideals of womanhood in Korea.  
 A large number of very introductory articles on Korean dance has been 
published in the Korea Journal, including those by Sung Kyong-rin (1963) / S?ng, 
Ky?ng-nin (1976), Ch?ng By?ng-ho (1997), Hahn Man-Young (1976), Alan C. 
Heyman (1990), Eleanor King (1977), Christine Loken-Kim (Loken 1978), Park 
Jeong-hye (1997), Song Soo-nam (1990), Kim Ch??n-h?ng & Alan C. Heyman 
(1975), and S?ng, Ky?ng-nin & Alan C. Heyman (1975). Many of these are also re-
published in the book Korean Dance, Theater and Cinema, compiled by the Korean 
National Commision for UNESCO (1983). Many of these introductory articles 
present Korean dance without much detail or actual atention to histories of dances. 
Instead, they give basic descriptions of dances or of Korean movement in general, 
sometimes with highly subjective interpretations by the authors. Loken-Kim?s 
 
 20 
 
?Moving in the Korean Way? (1978) is a particularly interesting combination of 
detailed observation of Korean dance characteristics and oversimplifications of 
Korean dance genres and Korean people in general. Many of these articles contain 
esentialist statements about Korean people by both Korean and non-Korean authors. 
Such statements sem at times to reflect authors? biases. At other times they sem to 
reflect common discourse in Korea about Korean dance and a ?strategic esentialism? 
used when presenting Korean dance to non-Koreans (Spivak 1988).  
 Chapters on dance in the book Korean Performing Arts: Drama, Dance & 
Music Theatre (ed. Yang Hye-suk 1997) present a basic introduction to Korean dance 
history but like the articles from the Korea Journal are designed for readers who have 
litle knowledge of Korean dance or history and are therefore unable to provide much 
detail. The absence of any citations, notes, or bibliographic material suggests that it 
is based on common discourse about Korean dance rather than on careful atention to 
verifiable sources. 
 For more detailed documentation and analysis of Korean dance, one must turn 
to works in Korean, as most Korean dance literature has yet to be translated into 
English or incorporated into English works in much detail. Many Korean works exist 
for the purpose of documenting the steps of particular dances, and some compare the 
dance styles of diferent individuals, using descriptions and series of photographs to 
capture the movements of individual dancers. Kim Moon Ae?s 3inui Salpuri Chum 
Tamgu (3
K
D ?? 
Iz  ? ), The Study of Thre Salp?uri Dancers, for example, 
compares the salpuri of thre renowned dancers with contrasting styles (1996). One 
of these dancers is Han Young-Sook (?	?? , Han Yeong-suk), who was the dance 
 
 21 
 
teacher of the Washington Korean Dance Company?s director, Kim Eun Soo (?
7? , 
Gim Eun-su). The other two dancers in this book are Yi Mae-bang (
IR? ) and Kim 
Suk-ja (??
W ). Another book, Seungmu, Salpuri Chum, contains photographs of 
the movements of seventen diferent dancers performing salpuri and/or seungmu 
(Kim Jeong-nyeo 1990). Such photographic documentation is vitaly important, but 
as photographs are stil, they mis the movement quality (efort) of dancers (Del 
1977). The absence of sound in the photographs also makes it impossible to observe 
the dancers? interpretations of music, which is an esential element of Korean dance. 
Videos of such great dancers as Han Young-Sook, Yi Mae-bang, and Kim Suk-ja are 
now emerging on the internet, which invites hope that more scholars wil have aces 
to these primary sources of information (se the videography for brief videos of each 
of these dancers). Hopefully more scholarly works wil emerge which include video 
footage and atention to individual styles of dance?including efort, timing, and 
interpretation of music?rather than the emphasis that stil photography places on 
shapes. 
Dance in Ethnomusicology 
 Dance has long been a part of ethnomusicology but has mostly been studied 
alongside music-making activities. On its web page, the Society for 
Ethnomusicology?s Dance Section repeatedly words its purposes in terms that 
emphasize the interelationship betwen music and dance, although in a few places it 
states that its members study both this interelationship and dance ?on its own terms.? 
The emphasis on dance?s interelationship with music in the Dance Section?s mision 
and list of aims reflects the rarenes of ethnomusicological works which focus 
 
 22 
 
primarily on dance itself. A survey of the Society for Ethnomusicology?s journal 
Ethnomusicology reveals very few articles highlighting dance, and most of these 
focus on the music which acompanies dancing (List 1997; Downey 2002; Ragland 
2003; Sol?s 2005).   
 Books which focus on dance are also fairly rare in ethnomusicology, but 
Tomie Hahn?s book Sensational Knowledge, on Japanese nihon buyo, is a recent 
notable contribution (2007). In her text are some paralels to my experiences in 
Korean dance, yet perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is its deeply 
reflexive approach, as Hahn shares her personal experience as a dancer. Her 
organization of the book and her ideas and writing style convey a sense of artistry that 
reflects the artistic world she is writing about. Her writing is influenced by the work 
of other highly reflexive writers such as Lila Abu-Lughod (1991; 2000) and Ruth 
Behar (1996). The reflexivity of these works is something to strive for, and although 
this thesis is not nearly as reflexive as it could be (that wil have to wait until future 
writing), their writings have influenced my faith in personal experience as a 
legitimate source of knowledge. 
Pansori and Korean Music 
 Works in English on pansori and Korean music in general are more plentiful 
than those on Korean dance. In the area of pansori, works by Marshal R. Pihl 
(1994), Heather Wiloughby (2002; 2000), and Chan E. Park (2003), are particularly 
important and useful. Al thre writers include information on the history of pansori, 
while each makes his or her own individual contribution to knowledge of this 
tradition. Pihl?s book focuses primarily on text (entirely in English translation), and 
 
 23 
 
the relationship betwen official, writen pansori text and actual performance. 
Wiloughby?s focus is on the importance placed on han in pansori and on elements of 
the vocal techniques, music, text, and ballim (?? , physical actions) that expres the 
sentiment of han (often described as a combination of sorrow, regret, longing, and 
biternes). Park?s book covers a wide range of topics, including  pansori?s 
relationship to other Korean musics and shamanism, the gentrification of pansori in 
the ninetenth century, the creation of changgeuk (9? , opera-like dramatizations of 
pansori repertoire), themes in pansori texts, modern-day transmision of pansori, 
depictions of gender in pansori repertoire, and her own performances of pansori for 
American audience with aniri (	??; , spoken narative sections) performed in 
English. Andrew Kilick has also produced a body of scholarship on changgeuk 
(1998; 2001; 2002; 2003). 
Music in Asian American Contexts 
 In the title of this section, I have purposefully skirted around both the terms 
?Asian American music? and ?Asian American? as a noun. Both labels have their 
uses, but I am uncomfortable labeling either the arts or the people discussed in this 
thesis as ?Asian American.? It sems to me that people can label themselves in 
diferent ways at diferent times, acording to their environment and preferences, and 
that people can utilize the arts in ways that may or may not expres a specificaly 
?Asian American? identity. Instead, I opt for ?Asian American contexts? as an 
umbrela term for this section because the term suggests environments in which Asian 
and American elements are present, without applying labels to particular people or art 
 
 24 
 
forms. Within such a context there is room for many self-proclaimed identities (and 
labels applied to others) and for multiple perspectives and interpretations.    
 I would argue that the arts studied at the WKDC studio are themselves most 
appropriately labeled ?Korean,? rather than ?Korean American? or ?Asian 
American,? because they are not significantly diferent from arts in Korea. However, 
these Korean arts can be used by their performers to communicate Korean, Korean-
American, and/or Asian American identities depending on the context of the 
performance. Artistic work which utilizes the term ?Asian American? often has a 
pan-Asian American political agenda which is not shared by the WKDC studio. 
Instead, the WKDC projects a specificaly Korean or perhaps Korean-American 
identity. However, an individual member of the studio who identifies as Asian 
American could potentialy perform in a context and with a mindset that expreses 
Asian American identity even though the studio as a whole promotes specificaly 
Korean culture.  
  In some Korean arts studios in the United States, I would suggest, there are 
sufficient diferences from practices in Korea to label the arts taught at those studios 
?Korean American? or ?Asian American? (for example, Hala Huhm?s studio in 
Hawai?i, described by Judy Van Zile (2001: 220-234) or the Asian American Arts 
Center in Centrevile, Virginia). However, the Washington Korean Dance Company 
studio maintains a strictly Korean identity, and the teachers teach choreographies and 
songs either learned in Korean traditional arts departments or choreographed within 
the established boundaries of ?traditional? choreography. This is one source of the 
studio?s self image as authentic compared to other studios. 
 
 25 
 
 Although in the case of the WKDC studio a purely Korean identity may be a 
mark of authenticity, the term ?Asian American? has significant uses in other 
contexts. Its use has encouraged Asian Americans to come together and find a 
political voice and to share common experiences while acknowledging their diversity. 
The term ?Asian American? has also been important in establishing a place for the 
study of Asian American experiences in the academy with the creation of Asian 
American studies departments. Because of the importance of the concept of ?Asian 
American? in academia, it is worthwhile to examine scholarship on music in Asian 
American contexts.  
 Joseph Lam encourages the use of the term ?Asian American music? as a 
means of categorizing a larger body of musical activities beyond nationaly- or 
ethnicaly-labeled musics such as Chinese music and Vietnamese music. He suggests 
that the term ?Asian American music? is necesary in order to create a framework for 
comparison of diferent musics within this category: 
Unles al the musics of Asian Americans are theoreticaly correlated 
in one way or another, their similarities and diferences cannot be 
compared and understood in the contexts of Asian American and 
American culture and history. For example, if we discuss taiko drum 
music as a clearly defined and independent entity that references only 
Japan and America, we have neither reason nor analytical framework 
to compare that taiko drum usic with p'ungmul music (Korean 
farmer's music of drums and gongs) of Korean Americans, kulintang 
music of Filipino Americans, and other similar genres that have been 
succesfully transplanted from Asia to America. In the proces of 
transplantation, the musics have developed diferent strategies to 
integrate various Asian and American musical elements, adjust to the 
social and political environment of American society, and expres 
minority experiences directly and indirectly. Without broad and 
coordinated comparison of those strategies, there is no teling what is 
unique to specific ethnicities, and what is common to al of them. 
(Lam 1999: 42) 
 
 
 26 
 
 Lam also states that ?to establish this research site in American academia and 
society, the term Asian American music is needed? (1999: 43). Lam describes 
?Asian American music? as ?a simple term that refers to the musics of Asian 
Americans who incorporate Asian and American elements in their musical works. 
However, as it is currently used, the term is ambiguous and can be used to refer to a 
large variety of musics, ranging from works that sound like traditional Asian music, 
such as Vietnamese zither music and Japanese taiko drum music, to those that are 
hardly diferent from mainstream American popular and art music, such as rap, jaz, 
Broadway musical, and instrumental concerto? (1999: 34). 
 Deborah Wong responds to Lam in her book, Speak it Louder: Asian 
Americans Making Music by purposefully avoiding the term ?Asian American music? 
and addresing this avoidance (2004). She takes as her subject not ?Asian American 
music,? but rather ?Asian Americans making music? (2004: 4). She states, 
If anything, I have gravitated toward the position that any music being 
performed or created by an Asian American is Asian American music, 
and I don?t think this is as disembling as it might sem. Rather, I 
want to understand why some Asian Americans make music, and what 
sounds they make and for whom. This is a very diferent question 
from the more common one of whether Asian American music exists. 
(2004: 12)  
 
Wong?s book is an exemplary work on music performed by Asian Americans. It 
covers a wide range of topics, with an emphasis on resistance and the performance of 
Asian American identities vis-?-vis hegemonic whitenes and white/black 
dichotomies. The book?s use of performance theory and coverage of a wide range of 
Asian American groups is very significant.  
 
 27 
 
 Whereas Lam and other writers on ?Asian American? arts such as Amy Ling 
(1999) focus on expresive culture that combines Asian and American (and often 
other) elements and addreses concerns specific to Asian Americans, the arts studied 
at the WKDC studio are more like the ?Asian imigrant music cultures? treated as a 
particular subtopic by Wong (2004: 14) in her literature review and described by 
Nazir A. Jairazbhoy in the Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, Volume VI (Asian 
Music in North America) (1985). Whereas most of the ?Asian American music? of 
Lam?s article, the ?Asian American arts? of Ling?s book, and the music made by 
Asian Americans in Wong?s book tends to addres isues specific to being an Asian 
American, imigrant musics are imported from their home countries, although they 
may change and develop in new directions in their new host country.  
 Nazir A. Jairazbhoy describes a number of phenomena that may occur in 
imigrant musics brought to the United States from Asia. He shows great concern 
for the preservation of traditional musics and suggests that one possible role of 
diasporic musics is the maintenance of these musical traditions in the new host 
country, separated from changes which occur back in the country of origin. He also 
describes the phenomenon of imigrant groups finding interest in the music of their 
homeland only after coming to the United States. In some cases, the development of 
interest in one?s native musical traditions may not occur in the generation that 
migrates but may emerge in the second generation. Members of this generation may 
either develop interest in learning these traditions on their own or be forced to learn 
by their parents (1985: 7).  
 
 28 
 
 The WKDC studio includes many first generation women who imigrated 
from Korea, some of whom never studied traditional arts in Korea while others 
majored in them. At the same time, it also atracts a separate group of second 
generation (and ?1.5 generation?) tenage girls and children, many of whom are 
encouraged by their parents to learn about Korean culture through dance. My role in 
performances in the community here, I fear, is acurately described by Jairazbhoy as 
wel: ?With a modicum of talent and learning, an individual can be projected into the 
role of an indispensable musician or acompanist, merely because there are no 
?profesionals? in the vicinity. It should be mentioned, however, that once this new 
role is thrust upon them, many are conscientious and undertake to remedy their 
deficiencies as best they can in the new environment? (1985: 7).  
 Highly influential to this thesis is Su Zheng?s disertation (1993) on music 
performance among Chinese Americans in New York City. I find her identification 
of a triangular relationship betwen the home community, the host community and 
the imigrant community particularly useful and have noted similar transnational ties 
in the Korean-American community around Washington, D.C.   
 Kip Lornel and Anne K. Rasmussen?s book Musics of Multicultural America: 
A Study of Twelve Musical Communities makes the point that the many world musics 
which exist within the United States ought to be included in the broad concept of 
?American Music? and that these musics ought to be given more scholarly atention 
(1997: 15). Lornel and Rasmussen also make an insightful point about the study 
these musics: 
Serious consideration of world music tradition in the United States (for 
example Chinese music in America, or Chinese-American music) has 
 
 29 
 
lagged far behind [study of world musics in their native geographical 
regions] due to the privileged position of the authentic in academia 
(se, for example, Handler and Linnekin 1984). Over the past two 
decades, however, ethnomusicologists have expanded the purview of 
their discipline to include not only musical practices characterized by 
age, place, and purity, but also those rich with the complexities of the 
contemporary, the mediated, the transnational, and the postmodern, 
phenomena that have been identified and theorized by contemporary 
thinkers, perhaps most notable among them Arjun Appadurai (se, for 
example, Appadurai 1990). (Lornel and Rasmussen 1997: 15) 
 
 Other important works on music in Asian American contexts are Adelaida 
Reyes?s Songs of the Caged, Songs of the Fre: Music and the Vietnamese Refugee 
Experience (1999), which examines the under-researched topic of refugee 
experiences and the efects of forced migration on musical practices, and Casey Man 
Kong Lum?s In Search of a Voice: Karaoke and the Construction of Identity in 
Chinese America (1996), which examines karaoke in the lives of a variety of groups 
of Chinese Americans in New York and New Jersey. 
Korean American Populations 
 A large number of books and articles exist on Korean American populations 
in the United States. Many of the books designed for general readership are on 
Korean Americans in general, focusing on Korean American history on a more macro 
level (Ilpyong J. Kim 2004) or on personal life stories (Kim and Yu 1997; Mary Paik 
Le 1990; Char 1996). Other books and articles focus on topics such as religion 
among Korean Americans (Kim, Warner, and Kwon 2001; Ecklund 2006; Rebeca 
Kim 2006; Sharon A. Suh 2004; Yoo and Chung 2008; Okyun Kwon 2004; Yong-Ho 
Choe 2004; Hurh and Kim 1990; Min and Kim 2005; Min 1992; Kely H. Chong 
1998; Rebeca Kim 2004), Korean American politics (Angie Chung 2007), Korean 
 
 30 
 
Americans and the economy (Hyojoung Kim et al 2009), ideas about race in Korea 
and among Korean Americans (Nadia Kim 2008), and race relations with African 
American communities (Kwang Chung Kim 1999).  
 Mary Yu Danico?s book (2004) is a notable contribution for its focus on the 
?1.5 generation? of Korean Americans in Hawai?i, those born in Korea who move to 
the United States during childhood. Paul Jong-Chul Yoon?s disertation (2005) is on 
the role of Korean Christian church music in identity formation among 1.5- and 
second-generation Korean Americans. A considerable number of articles and books 
exist which question old theories of asimilation and aculturation among imigrants 
or emphasize the role of transnationalism in imigrant lives, chalenging the concept 
of imigration as a one-time, unidirectional proces (Jenny Hyun Pak 2006; Huhr 
and Kim 1984).  
 A number of books and articles focus on Korean-American women (Jenny 
Hyun Pak 2006; Song and Moon 1997, 1998; Song Young I. 1987, 1996; Pyke and 
Johnson 2003). Yen le Espiritu (1999) writes about changing spousal relations 
among Asian American imigrants as Asian American women generaly are more 
succesful at finding work in the United States than their husbands. Lim (1997) also 
writes about Korean imigrant women?s chalenge to gender inequality at home, due 
in part to their recognition of their contribution to family income. Eunju Le (2004) 
writes about gender in smal busines ownership and Miliann King (2004) writes 
about Korean American women?s work in the service sector.  
 Kyeyoung Park?s (1997) book on Korean American smal busines owners in 
New York City contains several chapters focusing on gender. The book finds that 
 
 31 
 
succes in creating a smal busines becomes the goal of many Korean imigrants, 
even though owning a smal busines is considered to be much lower on the social 
ladder than the profesional jobs many of them had in Korea. Park notes in the book 
that Korean American women almost universaly work outside the home.  
 If we consider Korean residents in the United States as a whole, including 
those with strong transnational ties to Korea, the universality of women working has 
changed with new migratory paterns. One major recent change is the arival of many 
Korean mothers to the United States in order to enroll their children in American 
schools. Many of these women arive on student visas and are not alowed to work in 
the U.S. The husbands of many of these women remain in Korea in order to support 
their families, creating split, transnational families which may remain so for many 
years.
3
 Seung-kyung Kim has been researching these families, known as ?wild 
goose? (??? , gireogi) families, in the Washington D.C. area, and has given some 
presentations on the topic. She is currently working on a book manuscript titled 
Global Citizens in the Making?: Transnational Migration and Education in Kirogi 
Families. 
Gender in Ethnomusicology 
 Several sections of this thesis addres the topic of gender and women?s space. 
Considerable ethnomusicological work has been done on these isues, and Elen 
Koskoff has been a major figure in the study of gender in ethnomusicology. In the 
introduction to her book Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective (1989), 
                                                
3
 I curently teach English to several women who are part of gireogi families at a 
hagweon (?
 , Korean private academy) in Rockvile, Maryland. 
 
 32 
 
Koskoff introduces research on a variety of isues related to gender in musical 
performance in a variety of cultures. One major isue explored in this introduction is 
the efect of cultures? views about women?s sexuality on women?s performative 
genres and styles in those cultures. She especialy emphasizes that a woman?s 
musical role can change over the course of her life, as her reproductive abilities and 
role in society change with age (1989: 3). Other topics included in this chapter are 
the creation of separate women?s music cultures, designation of certain musical 
instruments as appropriate for men or women, music and inter-gender relations, acts 
of crossing into the performative realm of the opposite sex, and value placed on the 
music of each gender. 
 Koskoff notes that in many societies which link gender and music, separate 
male and female ?performative environments, genres, and/or performing styles? 
emerge (1989: 9). Such separation, she says, ?can also act as a positive catalyst for 
female bonding? (1989: 9). Music can also play a role in inter-gender relations, and 
Koskoff names ?four categories of music performance (which) thus emerge in 
connection with inter-gender relations: (1) performance that confirms and maintains 
the established social/sexual arangement; (2) performance that appears to maintain 
established norms in order to protect other, more relevant values; (3) performance 
that protests, yet maintains, the order (often through symbolic behavior); and (4) 
performance that chalenges and threatens established order? (1989: 10). 
 Citing an abundance of existing ethnographic descriptions of women?s 
musical activities which focus on women?s social roles, Koskoff states, ?Valuable as 
these descriptions are, what is needed now is a deeper analysis of the relationship 
 
 33 
 
betwen a society?s gender structure, what ideologies surround gender, the nature of 
inter-gender relations, and how al of these afect music behavior. Further, we must 
invert this question and ask how music behavior itself reflects and symbolizes gender 
behavior? (1989: 4). 
 In the same book, Carol E. Robertson theorizes power and gender in women?s 
musical experiences, stating that ?a long-range goal of this study is to contribute to a 
systematic approach to the relationship betwen gender, social power, and 
performance? (1989: 226). She provides thre diferent ethnographic examples of 
uses of power through music. The first two examples are from Ghana and Argentina, 
and they ?serve to ilustrate how women carve out their own domains of performance 
power? (1989: 230). The third ethnographic example, the D.C. Area Feminist 
Chorus, is provided as an example of the ?complexity of a women?s culture,? as this 
group split into two groups reflecting diferent beliefs, needs, and desired cultures of 
the membership (1989: 239). Robertson concludes the chapter with a list of 
questions, grouped into several diferent approaches, which she suggests could be 
developed by researchers to study ?women?s music from a systematic, cross-cultural 
perspective? (1989: 242). 
 Pirkko Moisala?s article ?Musical Gender in Performance? focuses on gender 
and music in two ethnographic setings: in her home country of Finland and among 
the Gurung people in the mountains of central Nepal. She makes four fundamental 
points: ?(1) music is, like language, a primary modeling system, that is, a system that 
guides or forms our perceptions of the world or a system on which we model the 
world around us; (2) music is a bodily art; (3) music is most often publicly performed 
 
 34 
 
and, thus, subject to social control; (4) music exists only in performance, even though 
the norms of performativity are brought to bear on the performer; and (5) music has 
the abilitiy to alter one?s state of mind? (1999: 1).  
 In this article, one of the points Moisala examines is how supposed gender-
appropriate behavior is communicated to children and adults through music-related 
norms such as which instruments should be played by boys and girls. She states, ?As 
a primary modeling system, music is one of the first elements through which an 
individual perceives and begins to patern the gendered ?world and reality? of his or 
her surroundings. . . . Through musical performance, for example, children learn 
about aceptable cultural behavior, including gender roles and rules. Music does not 
function as a ?teacher,? however. Al musical performances are encapsulations of a 
gender system? (1999: 4). Moisala also emphasizes music as bodily art, as the body 
is required to produce music, and points out that this ties music to sexuality, among 
?other bodily dimensions? (1999: 8). Moisala aserts that ?the body is one of the 
most understudied aspects of music and, possibly, also one of the most dificult 
subjects of study? (1999: 11).  
Korean Women in Korea  
 A considerable amount of research on Korean women has been published in 
English. Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism, edited by Elaine H. 
Kim and Chungmoo Choi, is a feminist-oriented book on Korean women and 
contains Elaine H. Kim?s revealing chapter ?Men?s Talk: A Korean American View 
of South Korean Constructions of Women, Gender, and Masculinity,? which 
 
 35 
 
examines the speech of Korean men (and some women) about gender in the late 
1980s (1998: 67-118).  
 Laurel Kendal?s book Geting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality, and 
Modernity (1996) focuses on wedding customs in Korea, while her book Shamans, 
Housewives, and Other Restles Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985) focuses 
on shaman-related practices. Nancy Abelmann?s The Melodrama of Mobility: 
Women, Talk, and Class in Contemporary South Korea (2003) focuses on women?s 
words and life stories. Korean Women: View from the Inner Room, edited by Laurel 
Kendal and Mark Peterson, is a collection of chapters on various topics related to 
Korean women (1983). Seungsook Moon?s Militarized Modernity and Gendered 
Citizenship in South Korea (2005) studies the efects of South Korea?s militarization 
and continued male conscription system on ideas about gender and roles of men and 
women as citizens.  
 Laurel Kendal?s book Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, 
Class, and Consumption in the Republic of Korea (2002) is a particularly interesting 
collection of chapters on various topics related to gender in late twentieth-century 
South Korea. In this book, Cho Haejoang?s chapter, ?Living with Conflicting 
Subjectivities: Mother, Motherly Wife, and Sexy Woman in the Transition from 
Colonial-Modern to Postmodern Korea? includes some particularly useful historical 
information about changing gender norms in Korea during the twentieth century. In 
order to talk at al about Korean women?s gender norms in this thesis, it is necesary 
to take into acount changing gender ideals among Korean women in the twentieth 
 
 36 
 
century, rather than treating Korean gender norms ahistoricaly. For this reason, I 
relate some details of Cho?s chapter here.  
 Cho describes thre generations of South Korean women. She characterizes 
each generation as a whole, just as one might characterize the ?Greatest Generation,? 
the ?Baby Boom Generation,? or ?Generation X? in the United States, identifying 
generaly pervasive trends without claiming that al individuals of each generational 
group fit into these generalizations. Cho writes first of the strength of older 
generations of Korean women during the twentieth century, which was encouraged by 
historical circumstances in Korean society: 
Over the past century?s experience of colonial modernization, the 
image of the enormously strong and eternaly self-sacrificing mother 
took on a particular cast in the expectation that invincible women 
should compensate for men?s weaknes, for their ?emasculation? under 
colonialism. Women were expected to have boundles fortitude in the 
face of men?s shortcomings. The weakened agency of the Korean 
male subject forged a peculiar gender relationship: an over-protective 
mother and her feble but noble son. (2002: 167) 
 
 The first generation discussed by Cho, which she cals the grandmother?s 
generation and defines as having been born around 1920, having grown up during the 
Japanese colonial era, and having raised children around the time of Liberation 
(1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953), was defined by self-sacrificing, strong 
motherhood. During this time of struggle, ?A woman who had asumed rough, 
asertive, ?masculine? (nams?nj?k) behavior in the defense of her family?s interests 
was not stigmatized? (Cho 2002: 172). Femininity was unimportant as she was 
unequivocaly a ?womanly woman? by her ?familial, caring, and managerial roles as 
the female head of an extended household? (172).  
 
 37 
 
 Cho describes the next generation, the ?mother?s generation,? as ?aggresive 
modern wives, backstage managers of hustling industrialization? (172). This group is 
defined as having been born in the 1940s and having grown up in the 1950s and 
1960s. Women of this generation generaly became housewives in modern nuclear 
family units and devoted their energy to their children and family finances. This 
generation of women is characterized as frugal, competitive, and asertive. Women 
of this generation are wel-known for their aggresive competition promoting their 
families? welfare in a rapidly modernizing society. Again, femininity was not 
important as these women defined themselves in terms of their families (177).  
 Some of the women at the WKDC studio are from this generation, although 
some of them oved to the United States as young women and mised much of this 
aggresive, competitive culture. Others imigrated later and were a part of the 
culture described by Cho for much of their lives. 
 The third generation, the ?daughter?s generation,? born in the 1960s and 
growing up with mas media during the 1970s, grew up with carer ambitions. Many 
took part in the Nationalist-Democratic Movement and the women?s liberation 
movement. In universities, women?s studies courses became very popular among 
both men and women, and many young women talked about ??self-realization,? 
aserting that they wanted to be defined not by familial relations but as individuals? 
(Cho 2002: 179). These women planned to have carers rather than become 
housewives like their mothers. However, Cho argues, their mothers wished not only 
for their daughters to have good jobs but also to ?be suitable brides for upper-middle 
clas families? (179). These mothers were also unwiling to provide child care for 
 
 38 
 
their daughters? children, which forced their daughters to stop working once they 
started their own families. During this time, young women came to se heterosexual 
relationships as more important than family relationships, and atracting men became 
a chief concern. At the same time, in South Korean society as a whole, progresive 
atitudes gave way to neoconservativism: 
   The feminist vision of enlightenment lost its vitality as the utopian 
movements of the 1980s died down. Neoconservativism is regaining 
popularity, while a sophisticated consumerism rapidly expands. Many young 
and educated women who once had progresive ideas semed to change their 
minds: They now sem to think that it is wiser to adapt to the existing system 
than to resist it. ?The women of this generation glided into the consumer 
world, making themselves into atractive objects to be gazed at and purchased 
by desirable men. ?  
   In the 1980s, the dominant female image was of a patriotic and intelectual 
woman. By the mid-1990s, campuses had filed with fashionable girls who 
imitated the styles of Vogue models or Sharon Stone in the movie Basic 
Instinct. Discovering their subjectivity away from their mothers and the 
weight of history, young women literaly remade their faces with heavy 
makeup, plastic surgery, and sesions in private beauty schools. (Cho 2002: 
181-182) 
 
 Some of the women at the WKDC studio are from this generation, and those 
who imigrated prior to the neoconservative shift described by Cho are likely to have 
brought a very diferent image of the ideal Korean woman with them to the United 
Sates than those who imigrated later. How their ideas about gender were afected 
by their new American environment is yet another factor that may vary considerably 
betwen individuals. Just as the women at the dance studio come from a variety of 
hybrid mixes of Korean and American cultures, their idea of what it means to be a 
Korean woman can difer considerably acording to age, time of imigration, and a 
wide variety of other factors such as clas and occupation. 
 
 39 
 
Methodology: The When and Where of the Field Work  
 This thesis is the result of seventen months as a member of the Washington 
Korean Dance Company studio in Fals Church, Virginia, beginning in mid-June 
2008. I began as a member of the adult beginner dance clas, which mets twice a 
wek for about ninety minutes per clas. I also began pansori clases once a wek for 
about one and a half to two hours per clas, plus occasional private lesons in pansori. 
After my first seven months at the studio, I was invited to join the advanced dance 
clas once a wek (for two hours each time) in order to learn the dance seungmu, and 
I joined an additional one-hour pansori clas afterwards. During the month of 
October 2009, the studio added two-hour dance rehearsals on Sundays in preparation 
for our performance at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on 
November 7, 2009.  
 I also participated in many smal group pansori/namdo minyo performances, 
the first of which occurred only one wek after I had started pansori clases. Most of 
these were separate from the WKDC?s group pansori clases, as I often performed 
with only my pansori teacher and her two regular private students. My pansori 
teacher and I became close friends over time as wel, and our frequent dinners 
together after pansori clases and performances have been valuable times for 
discussion and learning outside of clas. I also became close to several members of 
the dance studio, whose pasion for Korean traditional arts, and dance in particular, 
have been influential to my writing although they prefered not to be quoted directly. 
 I conducted an interview ith the studio?s director, Kim Eun Soo, parts of 
which are included in this thesis. I also conducted an interview ith one other 
 
 40 
 
member of the studio, which informs this thesis although it is not directly quoted at 
the request of the interviewe. These interviews were fairly fre-form but used a set 
of guiding questions specificaly tailored to the individual interviewe. Director 
Kim?s interview as audio recorded for acuracy and was conducted in a 
combination of English and Korean, with other women from the studio helping to 
translate. 
 During late July and early August of 2008, I also took four group clases at 
another Korean dance studio in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and had two 
private lesons at the instructor?s home. Due to financial and time restraints, as wel 
as gentle presure from both studios against studying with teachers from competing 
schools, I ceased my activities at this studio and concentrated on the Washington 
Korean Dance Company studio. 
 Since October 2008, I have also been a member of the Washington Kayo 
(>
 , gayo, popular song) Charity Asociation (WKCA), a group of singers who 
perform popular Korean songs, mostly from the mid-twentieth century, for Korean 
senior citizens? groups in the Washington D.C. area. My involvement with this group 
wil be the material for future writing and, though not included in this thesis, gave me 
another means of interacting with and being a part of the local Korean community. 
My teaching activities at two Korean private schools in the local area have also 
informed my view of life in the local Korean community, as my adult English 
students in particular talk with me about their lives here. My own experiences living 
in Seoul from July 2005 to July 2006 as a music and English teacher, and my rather 
ravenous consumption of Korean media through the internet in the years since that 
 
 41 
 
time, also formed a vital foundation of learning prior to my entry into the Washington 
D.C. Korean community through the WKDC studio. 
Thesis Overview 
 This thesis examines what the WKDC studio offers to its participants. Each 
member of the studio may draw hat she wil out of the studio?s oferings to create a 
rewarding experience. This thesis does not draw conclusions as to which benefits of 
the studio are most important to the largest number of participants, for many women 
have studied at the studio over the years and I cannot study al of their experiences. 
In the future, I hope to delve deeper into the experiences of the studio?s current 
members through more extensive interviewing, but that is beyond the scope of this 
thesis. Instead, this thesis explores the variety of benefits offered by the studio, from 
which the members may take what they wil. I explore how the nature of the arts 
themselves alows for the creation of a long-term studio community and how the 
women?s communal practices contribute to an environment in which long-term study 
of the arts can flourish. I argue that these communal practices create a Korean 
cultural and linguistic space that is also a women?s space.    
 Chapter 2 gives some background information about the studio and its 
location. It introduces the community outside the studio in order to convey the 
variety of backgrounds and lifestyles that women at the studio can have. The studio 
reflects a heterogeneous Korean diasporic community and serves as a meting point 
at which the various, culturaly hybrid lives of many women intersect.  
 This chapter then conveys the sensory experience of studying at the studio, 
describing typical clases. Much of the fulfilment of studying at the studio is in these 
 
 42 
 
sensory experiences. The chapter finaly focuses on the interactions of the 
participants with each other and the studio space. These interactions create a sense of 
community within the studio, a Korean space where the culturaly hybrid lives of 
many women intersect, and a place where identities can be formed and expresed, 
both as members of the studio?s specific group and as Korean women. Identity as a 
member of the studio can be a source of pride, and the quality of the studio and its 
genealogy can be an important factor in this. As a result, the studio?s quality must be 
maintained through regulation of public performances. 
 During a dance or song at the studio, the participants interact very litle with 
each other. Instead, they interact primarily with the music, their own bodies, and (in 
dance clases) their image in the miror. Chapter 3 focuses on participants? physical 
engagement with the dances and songs themselves and how this can be fulfiling in 
and of itself, potentialy producing states of ?flow? or ?optimal experience? 
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990). As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?s theory of ?flow? indicates 
the necesity of chalenge to met the skil level of the individual, this chapter 
exposes some hidden chalenges of Korean dance which may go unnoticed by 
observers but are, sometimes acutely, felt by learners at the WKDC studio. This 
chapter also emphasizes the importance of training in Korean dance, despite 
introductory English-language literature which tends to stres its naturalnes and 
connection to everyday Korean movement and thought.   
 Chapter 4 explores ways in which participants can engage with the dances and 
songs on a more intelectual and emotional level. I argue that belief in meanings and 
histories of an activity can heighten an experience to something beyond the in-the-
 
 43 
 
moment experience of ?flow.? I suggest that discourse surrounding the dances and 
their histories provides a range of meanings from which the individual participant can 
choose depending on what discourse she has been exposed to and what she finds 
personaly meaningful.  
 Certain dances have the potential to link the participant intelectualy and 
emotionaly with subgroups of women in Korean tradition, as the participant emulates 
these women of the past and present. Through such emulation, the participant can 
enrich her own identity by becoming part of an ?imagined community? with these 
diferent subgroups (Anderson 1983). At times, the participant may imagine herself 
to be one of these women while she is dancing, in order to heighten the performance 
for the audience and the experience for herself. At other times, she may instead 
connect with these women by feling only that she is paying tribute to their memory 
through performance. Both of these concepts of the self in relation to these 
subgroups of women can heighten the feling of being in the moment while dancing, 
as the dance gains new significance. At the same time, they can produce a long-
lasting sense of the importance of the performance beyond the imediate pleasure of 
performing and contribute to the development of an increasingly complex identity 
that reflects both a deeper sense of one?s personal abilities and a sense of increasing 
connectednes with other groups of people. 
 Chapter 5 forms the conclusion of this thesis, summarizing points made in 
earlier chapters and identifying areas for future study. 
  
 
 44 
 
Chapter 2: Interacting with Others: Creating Korean Diasporic 
Space and Community at the Intersection of Culturaly Hybrid 
Lives 
The Fieldwork Seting 
The Area Surrounding the Studio 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company studio is located in Fals Church, 
Virginia, a few minutes? drive from the town of Annandale which contains a very 
high concentration of Korean busineses in its fairly large busines district. 
Annandale?s concentration of Korean busineses is one of the highest in the United 
States and the highest in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Sometimes 
informaly refered to as a ?Korea town,? Annandale?s main road is visibly dotted 
with signs in Korean. Many of its smal strip mals have Korean owners and are 
mainly full of Korean-owned busineses. Yet not until one explores the nooks and 
crannies of Annandale?s oddly laid-out strets, the tucked away corners and the 
spaces inside them, does one experience the extent to which Annandale functions as a 
central meting place for Korean residents of surrounding towns seking out Korean 
linguistic, cultural, and material spaces.
4
  
                                                
4
 Two of Annandale?s main roads intersect at about a 45-degre angle, dividing the 
center of the town into a wedge shape which is further subdivided into oddly shaped 
lots and buildings facing odd angles, creating actual nooks and crannies in the town?s 
layout. Furthermore, some Korean busineses are situated in very smal spaces, in 
basements, or on upper flors, and are dificult to find unles one already knows 
about them. 
 
 45 
 
 The Korean restaurants and cafes in Annandale bustle with activity at night, 
and within the center of Annandale are at least ten noraebang (?singing room? 
establishments, like the Japanese karaoke box).
5
 There are establishments for buying 
Korean household goods, imported clothing, groceries, fresh rice cake, books, hanbok 
(traditional dres), Korean-style ?French? baked goods, CDs and DVDs, and 
cosmetics, among other things. Korean service-oriented busineses are numerous as 
wel, including beauty salons, auto garages, doctors? offices (practicing both Western 
and Eastern medicine), dry cleaners, bath houses, printing service places, travel 
agencies, private academies in subjects such as English and music, and at least one 
fortune-teler. The two main Korean language newspapers serving the Washington 
D.C. metropolitan area have their ofices in Annandale as wel. Thus, Annandale 
provides a high concentration of Korean spaces in which to socialize, work, play, eat, 
shop, and receive services. 
 Annandale also has a highly concentrated population of Spanish speakers. 
Latino-owned busineses are noticeably present, and the local HMart, part of a chain 
of Korean grocery stores, sels a considerable number of products marketed to 
residents from Mexico and South and Central America. HMart and many Korean 
restaurants employ both Korean and Latino workers, and Spanish language 
newspapers are sold alongside Korean ones in stands outside of HMart as wel as in 
other places around town.   
                                                
5
 There are probably more noraebang than the ten with which I am familiar. Many 
are tucked away in basement areas, second floors, and the halways of restaurants, 
bars, or cafes. 
 
 46 
 
 Besides Annandale, other towns in the D.C. metropolitan area function as 
leser centers for Korean busineses and residents. Centrevile, (Virginia), Elicott 
City (Maryland), and, to a leser extent, Rockvile (Maryland) al contain relatively 
high numbers of Korean busineses and residents. Korean people live in many parts 
of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, however, and the presence of Korean 
Christian churches in many towns reflects this widely distributed population. Korean 
churches are enormously important to many members of the Korean community and 
serve as a major center for socializing and raising children with awarenes of their 
heritage (se Kim, Warner, and Kwon 2001; Ecklund 2006; Rebeca Kim 2006; 
Sharon A. Suh 2004; Yoo and Chung 2008; Okyun Kwon 2004; Yong-Ho Choe 
2004; Hurh and Kim 1990; Min and Kim 2005; Min 1992; Kely H. Chong 1998; 
Rebeca Kim 2004; Paul Jong-Chul Yoon 2005). 
 Due to modern transportation and media, many people in the Korean 
community, both those born in Korea and those born in the U.S. to Korean parents, 
maintain transnational ties betwen the U.S. and Korea. Some travel back and forth 
or go on brief trips to Korea, and many have family members in both countries. Even 
those who remain in the U.S. without traveling back to Korea usualy maintain some 
kind of intelectual ties to Korea through media. Many people in the Korean 
community read Korean-language newspapers either in local printed form or online. 
News about Korean popular culture is common knowledge among many Korean 
residents, and fre local Korean-language tabloids can be picked up at many Korean 
establishments. These contain news about Korean celebrities and pop culture and are 
funded by the local advertisements and clasified sections that fil up many of the 
 
 47 
 
tabloids? pages. Thus, many people are connected through ?mediascapes? and 
?ideoscapes? to Korea (Appadurai 1990; 1991). However, these ?-scapes? do not 
impose themselves on people; they exist as something with which people may choose 
to engage. People may choose to use these available media out of personal desire to 
stay informed or be entertained in Korean. They may also choose to use these media 
if they fel social presures in the Korean community to stay informed and thus 
maintain shared knowledge with other members of the community. 
 Many people who setle in Annandale and the surrounding towns can manage 
to live with very litle English language use. Others can break away from the Korean 
community and interact entirely in non-Korean circles. Most people fit in somewhere 
betwen the two extremes. The amount of one?s daily life spent in Korean linguistic 
and cultural setings is often a mater of choice but is sometimes imposed upon people 
based on circumstances such as family situation and job.  
 People in the Washington D.C. metropolitan Korean community live in a 
place where several worlds intersect. Hypotheticaly, a Korean imigrant living in a 
part of the United States without a Korean community, and without aces to a 
diasporic Korean community through the internet or other means, would form the 
only link betwen two worlds: her current home and Korea. But if she is situated 
within a diasporic community, that community becomes a third world, where the 
other two intersect, creating the triangular relationship described by Zheng (1993). 
When such a community exists, specific spaces become sites for the creation of this 
third world.  
 
 48 
 
 I suggest that the Washington Korean Dance Company studio serves as one 
such space. This studio fulfils diferent needs for diferent women. For some, it is 
the only place where they can socialize frely in Korean and interact with other 
Korean people. For others, it is just one part of a life conducted almost entirely in 
Korean linguistic and cultural spaces. For a few, the studio is the center of their 
social lives, and many hours are spent there each wek. 
The Washington Dance Company Studio 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company studio is situated on Galows Road 
in Fals Church, Virginia. This is a main road dotted with busineses, some of which 
are in old, slightly worn-down buildings and others of which are in very new 
buildings with apartments on the upper floors. There are not many Korean busineses 
on this road, but two large Korean grocery stores, HMart and Grand Mart, are within 
walking distance on either side of the dance studio.
6
 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company studio is located on the second floor 
of a thre-story building. One is unlikely to know that a Korean dance studio is there 
unles one already knows about it either from advertisements in one of the local 
Korean newspapers or by word of mouth, the two primary means by which people 
learn of the studio. Also on the second floor are a Taekwondo studio and a balroom 
dance studio, both of which have highly visible signs on the side of the building that 
faces the road. These signs are lit at night. In contrast, the Washington Korean 
Dance Company has no advertising sign, except for the words ???  ?

?? ? 
                                                
6
 Grand Mart burned down in the winter of 2008-2009 and has been closed for nearly 
a year, but it is preparing to reopen. 
 
 49 
 
(Hanguk muyong hakkyo, Korean dance school) writen in Korean in smal, brown 
leters on a stairwel window that faces the road.
7
 On one side of the building, the 
words ???  ?

? (Hanguk Muyong, Korean Dance) are writen on a window in 
larger white leters, also in Korean only. As the wal inside is also white, the leters 
on the window are practicaly camouflaged.  
 The first floor of the building houses a Verizon store, a check cashing 
busines, and a convenience store caled La Placita. The third floor houses a church, 
whose congregation sems to be made up mainly of African imigrants. This church 
is positioned directly above our dance studio, and the sounds from its services travel 
down to us on certain days of the wek.
8
  
 The most striking visual element of the building?s exterior is the large picture 
on the front and side of the building of a Taekwondo master performing a kick in 
mid-air. The Taekwondo studio across the hal from our dance studio is thriving, 
atracting many students of al ages and many ethnicities and who speak a variety of 
languages with their parents. The masters at the studio are Korean, and the head 
master was a Taekwondo world champion. The primary language of the studio?s 
masters is Korean, but they speak English wel enough to teach their diverse students. 
The studio is decorated with both an American flag and a Korean flag and the 
students count aloud in Korean as they go through their exercises. 
                                                
7
 It was about six months before I noticed this smal label and I had looked at the 
building many times, noting the absence of any sign. 
8
 I do not know much about this church but have sen members of the congregation in 
very beautiful atire and been treated to some of the music and preaching style 
through the apparently not-soundproof ceiling of our studio during our pansori 
clases. I can only imagine what they think when they hear us. 
 
 50 
 
 In contrast to the diversity of the Taekwondo studio, the Washington Korean 
Dance Company studio, which is also a thriving place of instruction, is composed 
entirely of Korean women, with the exception of me.
9
 Whereas the Taekwondo 
studio door is often open, and has a window into a seating area where parents can 
watch their children learn, the Korean Dance Company door is solid wood and 
generaly closed. Sometimes the sounds of drumming beat their way from the studio 
into the halway, the Taekwondo studio across the hal, and even the halway on the 
first floor of the building where the elevator and stairwel to the upstairs floors are 
located. These sounds sometimes spark the curiosity of students at the Taekwondo 
school.   
 One enters the building through a door to the side which faces a smal parking 
lot and an auto garage. The short, white first floor halway does not look particularly 
clean or new, and neither do the elevator and stairwel that lead to the second and 
third floors. It is an altogether industrial, functional environment. On one occasion 
when the floors were cleaned, some of us wondered whether the landlord was 
preparing for some kind of inspection, so unusual was this occurrence. The second 
floor of the building contains a halway, restrooms, a water fountain, and doors to the 
Korean dance, Taekwondo, and balroom dance studios. The turquoise carpet and 
men?s bathroom are usualy quite dirty, but the women?s bathroom is reasonably 
clean, and the women at the WKDC studio frequently lock it when they leave the 
                                                
9
 One man briefly joined the pansori clases for a few months this year, and two of 
the pansori teacher?s private students, who take lesons outside the studio, are male; 
one is a college student and the other an eleven-year-old boy whose sister also studies 
pansori. They occasionaly visit the group pansori clases at the studio, especialy 
when preparing for an upcoming group performance, but are not regular members of 
the clases.    
 
 51 
 
building. It is important not only as a bathroom but also as a necesity for food 
preparation and clean up, a vital part of the studio?s community. 
 The door of the WKDC studio is decorated with white stick-on leters giving 
the studio name and hours, but many of the leters are mising and the hours not up to 
date. To the right of the door, however, is a very nice gold plaque with the studio 
name in both Korean and English.  
 The nondescript exterior of the studio conceals a visualy, socialy, and 
sonicaly dynamic space, full of colorful objects and colorful characters, in which 
women?s lives come together for the sake of studying Korean arts and can be 
profoundly afected by the experience.  
 As the studio door opens, one is first likely to notice the many pairs of shoes 
stowed to the right of the door and the window to Kim Danjangnim?s (Director 
Kim?s) office, which is her private space and also stores new props for future use. 
Behind her desk, shelves hold many plaques and awards of appreciation, as wel as 
some newly-acquired masks which she recently bought in Korea in order to begin 
teaching masked dance to us next year. Next to her office is a closet-like changing 
area, which is also the studio?s main storage area. It holds two racks of costumes 
which are used in performances and sometimes rented out to non-company members. 
Above the racks of costumes are shelves which hold drums used in dancing: janggu 
(
b? , hourglas-shaped drums) and buk ( , barel-shaped drums) as wel as other 
props and hats: some hats in the military style used for geommu (h? 
?the 
knife/sword dance) and some in the style once worn as part of outdoor atire by 
gisaeng (?? , female performing artists who were part of a formal government 
 
 52 
 
entertainment system until the early twentieth century?se Chapter 4). A rice 
cooker is also stored there, as is a short table with Korean mother of pearl artwork 
which is used for eating while seated on the floor. Along the wal betwen the doors 
to the office and changing room are chairs and stacks of cushions for siting on the 
floor. Behind the stacks of cushions, a miror covers part of the wal. 
 As the studio door opens further to the left, one ses the surprising expanse of 
the studio. Its wooden floor is impecably clean, as food is often shared while siting 
on the floor. On the wal opposite the door, a long row of mirors covers most of the 
wal, though not al the way to the floor or ceiling, which sometimes means that our 
fet or hands are cut of from view hen we dance. To the right of the long miror are 
a microwave and coffe maker. An electric fan sits on the floor in front of the miror, 
as do a few boxes of wooden sticks for drumming, extra fans for communal use if 
needed, and sogo (?? , smal hand-held drums). A few large buk, their frames 
painted with pink flowers, sit on the floor and are occasionaly used by our teachers to 
emphasize rhythms while the group dances. To the left of the row of mirors is a 
sound system with many CDs and a smal refrigerator which contains various foods 
and drinks, including kimchi, various Korean side dishes, water, and Heineken. A 
janggu sits on a wooden stand, and our teachers use this to acompany us from time 
to time, instead of the CDs we usualy dance to, when going over a specific step or 
slowing down parts of dances. Windows perpetualy covered by blinds line the left 
wal of the studio. They are rendered inacesible most of the time by two or thre 
rows of drums suspended from tal painted wooden stands, which are used in sam buk 
chum (thre-drum dance).  
 
 53 
 
 The back wal of the studio is similarly lined with several rows of larger 
drums, also on wooden frames, used in o buk chum (five-drum dance). Both sets of 
drums are brightly painted?in yelow, blue, orange, gren, brown, and red for sam 
buk chum drums and in pink, gren, white, and brown, with smal amounts of blue, 
orange, red, and yelow, for o buk chum drums. Even while siting unused in these 
storage positions, they contribute to the colors of the studio. Also along the back wal 
are a television and DVD player and a large wardrobe with glas doors, whose rack is 
jamed full of colorful costumes. Also rather jamed into this wardrobe are sixten 
or so large cloth flowers which are used for our ?Flower Dance,? which is based on 
the court dance Hwagwanmu (
?? , ?Flower Crown Dance?). In al directions, the 
wals of the studio are decorated with framed photographs of previous performances, 
plaques and certificates of appreciation for performances given, and frequent 
newspaper articles about the studio (al from local Korean-language newspapers).  
 Opening the door to the studio can fel like walking into a completely new 
world, one full of color and the kinds of objects that symbolize Korean national 
identity in travel books and tourist brochures, things that are not easy to find in the 
United States and must be imported from Korea. When we are dancing, the swish of 
brightly-colored practice skirts and the sounds of Korean traditional instruments add 
additional auditory and visual components. One who enters into this space might fel 
transported to some distant place in Korea, either one that is imagined, and perhaps 
existing in some mythical past, or one that the person has actualy experienced, such 
as a modern day performance space in Korea or a clasroom at the National Center 
for Korean Traditional Performing Arts. 
 
 54 
 
 Despite the significance of the studio?s material culture, it is not the studio 
space itself and the objects in it which define the studio and what one experiences in 
it, but rather the people who inhabit it and their practices. Each clas at the studio has 
its own character based on the individuals which comprise it and their purposes for 
being there. When one opens the door to the studio, one ses women dancing, 
preparing to dance, or chating in Korean, sometimes while seated on the floor eating.  
 The most defining presence in the studio is its founder and director, Kim Eun 
Soo (?
7? , Kim Eun-su), whom others often cal either Kim Seonsaengnim (? 

??? , Teacher Kim) or Danjangnim (?
b? , Director). Kim Seonsaengnim 
majored in Korean dance at Ehwa Women?s University, studying under the legendary 
dancer Han Young-sook (?	?? , Han Yeong-suk). After graduating, she became an 
asistant instructor at the university, won many first place awards in competitions, 
and was honored with a silver medal at the Sixth Dong-A Dance Competition, one of 
the most important dance competitions in Korea. She was also a member of the 
Korean National Dance Troupe, which performed at the Sapporo Olympic Games. 
She imigrated to the United States on December 18, 1977, where she gave up 
dancing for a time and started a family. In 1986, she and two other women who had 
majored in Korean traditional dance began practicing together at four o?clock on 
Sunday mornings, alternating betwen one location in Maryland and another in 
Virginia. They also began to perform. Kim Seonsaengnim began teaching Korean 
dance clases in 1993, and since that time many women and girls have come through 
the studio, some staying for many years.    
 
 55 
 
 Kim Seonsaengnim anages the studio, directs the profesional company, and 
teaches the adult beginner clas. Her demeanor is very dignified and she is highly 
respected. She scowls at our mistakes and sharply reprimands us, but after the 
reprimands are done, her scowl often warms into a smile. When she dances, her face 
often radiates with this smile, and it is one of the most imediately striking things 
about her dancing. Her dancing is very elegant, with clean lines, like Han Young-
sook?s, litle extra embelishment, and only hints of eokae-chum (	?? z , shoulder 
dance) that is prevalent in folk styles. 
 Bae Jung-Lan (?
?  Bae Jeong-Nan), or Bae Seonsaengnim (?  ??? , 
Teacher Bae), is second in command at the dance studio, teaching many of the clases 
there and acting as the leader of the profesional company. Like Kim Seonsaengnim, 
she majored in Korean dance in college (although she also had training in balet and 
modern dance), and she dances beautifully with exquisite atention to detailed 
movement and rhythm. Her movements often emphasize syncopation in the music, as 
she may momentarily acelerate an otherwise smooth movement on certain beats or 
subdivisions of beats. Her breathing and corresponding shoulder movement is more 
obvious than Kim Seonsaengnim?s and is an important part of her style and 
expresivenes. Her tal, delicate frame is the ideal in today?s places for Korean 
dance instruction, and her dancing is graceful and restrained, creating a very elegant 
look and feling. When she is not dancing, her manner can be very dignified but is 
often youthful, exuberant, and playful. As a trained dancer, she often uses playful 
and humorous movement to make others in the studio laugh. Though highly 
respected as a teacher and dance expert, she is a litle younger than many of the 
 
 56 
 
women at the studio and teaches in a more congenial tone, explaining and sometimes 
teasing, but never reprimanding. Unlike Kim Seonsaengnim, she sometimes uses 
touch in her teaching, moving our arms to the corect position or pushing our backs 
downward further so we lean forward more in the dance seungmu. Both teachers 
primarily teach by modeling movements for us many times, although Bae 
Seonsaengnim dances together with the clases more often than Kim Seonsaengnim, 
who often observes from the side and generaly only dances with us in order to teach 
something new or model a particular movement that she wants us to improve. 
The Beginer Class 
Introduction 
 Each clas at the studio has its own micro-culture composed of the individuals 
in the clas and partialy determined by their reasons for being there. As mentioned 
earlier, the profesional company, known as the Washington Korean Dance 
Company, is comprised of women who majored in Korean dance before imigrating 
to the United States. They met on Mondays for rigorous ful-day practice sesions 
that begin in the late morning and end in the late afternoon. The women rehearse 
their dance repertoire during this time, taking breaks to eat together and chat. 
Members of this company give frequent performances at cultural events. They are al 
very serious about dance and although they are friends and socialize enthusiasticaly 
during breaks, the fundamental purpose of perfecting and maintaining their dance 
repertoire is clear in their long, rigorous rehearsals.  
 Although the creation of the profesional company was the original purpose 
of the studio, its community clases have come to form a vital part of the studio. My 
 
 57 
 
own experience at the studio began in June 2008 as a member of the adult beginner 
clas. The other members of this clas had joined one to six months earlier. One 
additional woman joined the clas several months after I did, but otherwise the clas 
has remained constant during the seventen months since I joined, with no additions 
or subtractions.  
 The beginner clas mets twice a wek, for approximately ninety minutes each 
time, on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings. When the women arive at the 
studio they change into rehearsal atire, which includes a long rehearsal skirt and 
white shoes specialy made for Korean dance. These shoes are designed like balet 
flats but have an upturned toe which emphasizes the flexing of the foot and rolling of 
the foot from heel to toe on the floor, a characteristic movement of Korean dance. 
Plain socks can be worn during practice, but special socks with an upturned toe, 
beoseon (?? ), are used in performance. Many of the women also wear sokbaji (?
?
? ),white pants worn under the rehearsal skirt which are gathered at the ankles and 
have a slightly puffy shape.
10
 
 At or a few minutes after the beginning of the clas time, the first dance 
begins. This first dance is always gibon (? ), the ?basic? dance used to teach 
fundamentals of Korean dance movement. It includes, among other things, some 
numericaly labeled movements of walking forward and backward with 
corresponding sets of arm ovements. Just as dancers must painstakingly master the 
movements of this dance in order to understand the fundamentals of Korean dance, 
                                                
10
 Some styles of sokbaji have a straighter, slightly tapered leg and are not gathered at 
the ankles. Sokbaji are worn not only in dance setings, but also under hanbok (? 


traditional Korean dres). 
 
 58 
 
this thesis gives a particularly detailed description of certain steps of gibon in order to 
highlight some fundamental aspects of Korean dance in general.  
The Dance Gibon (?  , ?Basic?) 
 One fundamental movement in the studio?s gibon is the shifting of weight 
from the right foot to the left foot, with graceful alternating arms.
1
 As the weight 
shifts to the right foot, the dancer inhales and the arms come out slightly to the sides 
(to almost a 45-degre angle with the floor at their highest point). The dancer exhales 
and bends the knees with most of her body weight on the right foot while lowering 
the arms and leting them cross the body, the left arm in front and the right arm 
behind. The dancer then inhales, rising from the knee bend, coming back to the 
center, and bringing the arms back out to the sides (up to almost a 45-degre angle to 
the floor). She continues moving slightly to the left, shifting most of her weight onto 
the left foot. The dancer then exhales, bends the knees slightly with the weight on the 
left foot, and slowly drops the right arm in front of the body, the left arm behind the 
body. This set of movements is usualy repeated twice and occurs several times 
during gibon. 
 
 
 
                                                
1
 Throughout this thesis, I refer to the versions of dances as they are performed at 
this particular studio. Although al Korean dancers learn some form of gibon, the 
choreography and sequence of steps can difer from studio to studio. Similarly, each 
dance mentioned in this thesis can actualy be thought of as a dance type which can 
be choreographed diferently as long as it adheres to norms of movement vocabulary, 
certain elements of choreography, costume style, props, and music.  
 
 59 
 
 
Interlude Number One: On Breath 
 
 In al dances taught at the WKDC studio, the element of breathing is 
extremely important. Although it is possible to perform each movement 
without actualy inhaling and exhaling (as our teachers do while giving verbal 
explanations), the breath initiates each movement and ties together al the 
movements of the body. Arm ovements in particular are initiated by the 
breath, which causes a slight lifting of the shoulders and a movement that 
sems to flow from the shoulder down to the elbow, lower arm, and finaly the 
hand. The subtle lifting and lowering movement of breath, whether or not it is 
actualy caused by intake of air, is one of the most fundamental elements of 
Korean dance. This aspect of the dance was not emphasized in the beginner 
clas, however, until about a year after I joined, when we began learning 
gibangmu (??? , gisaeng dance) which begins with clear shoulder movement 
from breathing.
12
 Bae Seonsaengnim frequently specifies timing of inhalation 
and exhalation during the dance seungmu in the advanced clas.  
 
 
 The next step in our studio?s gibon is a forward and backward walking step 
with the arms held straight out to the sides, paralel to the floor, with palms down. 
The dancer takes eight steps forward, rolling the foot from heel to toe and deepening 
                                                
12
 Gibang (??),or gyobang (??)?is a word for the places where gisaeng studied 
the arts and entertained their male clients. 
 
 60 
 
into a slight knee bend as the foot comes into contact with the floor. After the last 
forward step on left foot, the right foot steps forward in the air for a moment but is 
quickly placed behind the body, initiating eight steps backward. The arms, at 
shoulder height, remain straight, although there may be a slight, almost imperceptible 
movement in the arms and fingers. As in many Korean dance movements, this 
movement of the arms is a slightly delayed response to the lifting and lowering of the 
body with the bending and straightening of the knees.  
 
Interlude Number Two: On Graceful Arm Movement 
 
   In Korean dance, movements are generaly initiated from the breath and 
sometimes travel to the extremities of the body in such a way that the 
movements of the hands and fet follow slightly behind the movement of the 
body?s core, which tend to occur on the beat. The movement from the breath to 
the shoulders, down the arms, and to the hands is very subtle, and in some 
cases, as in the first step of gibon, the arms appear to remain straight while 
having a slight supplenes. In most movements, the arms have a greater 
supplenes than in balet but not the obvious arm undulations found in 
belydance. The ability to perform this slight delay of movement at the body?s 
extremities has been one of the most dificult things for the women in the 
WKDC studio?s community clases to master and can be dificult to teach. 
 In trying to describe this movement verbaly, I turn to the bamboo that 
grows outside my apartment in Annandale. If I move a large stalk of this 
 
 61 
 
bamboo (or any limber tre or plant) up and down or from side to side, its 
branches and leaves tend to follow the back and forth movement with a slight 
delay due to inertia; as I move the main bamboo stalk upward, its branches stay 
down for a split second until they are pulled up. As I change direction quickly, 
pulling the stalk downward, the branches continue to move up due to inertia 
until they are forced to change direction. The motion of the arms in many 
dance movements is similar to this; they move in reaction to the core of the 
body?s movements, often with a slight delay so that the hand is the last thing to 
move. This creates grace. Foot movements sometimes follow this patern as 
wel; oftentimes, as the leg is lowered to the ground, the foot gently flexes up, 
like a leaf momentarily held in position by inertia or air resistance, before being 
lowered to the floor, heel first.   
 
 The second step in gibon also moves forward for eight counts and then 
backward for eight counts, but with a diferent step and arm patern. As the right foot 
steps forward, the dancer inhales and the left arm rises to a vertical position. The left 
foot comes forward and lightly touches the floor next to the right foot, but the weight 
remains on the right. The dancer exhales and draws the left hand directly downward 
to the back of the head, with elbow out to the side. The dancer then performs the 
same movement on the other side, stepping forward on the left foot and raising the 
right arm, but as the dancer initiates the step forward on the left foot, she 
simultaneously returns the left arm to its original position, straight out to the side at 
 
 62 
 
shoulder level, using a forward, horizontal movement of the forearm. This action is 
performed four times (two per side) forward, and four times backward. 
 The third step in our gibon begins with an inhalation as the right foot steps 
forward and the left follows to met it, while the right hand, which is stil behind the 
head from the previous step, is drawn forward slightly and upward past the temple 
and then brought out to the right side in an arc while the dancer exhales and bends the 
knees slightly. The right arm finishes its arc paralel to the ground, at shoulder level. 
While this entire movement is being performed, the left hand, which begins held out 
to the side, paralel to the ground with palm down, lifts slightly (a movement initiated 
from the inhalation which travels out to the hand) and rotates to face palm up, moving 
down again slightly on the exhalation. Next, the dancer inhales again and raises the 
left arm in an arc to an almost 90-degre angle with the ground while also lifting the 
left leg, knee bent. The dancer may do this in one smooth motion or may add a litle 
extra inhalation on the last subdivision of the beat, with an acompanying extra lift of 
the body. She then exhales, lowering the left foot to the ground and drawing the left 
hand downward behind the head, elbow directly out to the side. The entire set of 
movements is repeated on the opposite side. 
 The use of unilateral movement (movement of the arm and leg on the same 
side of the body) is one identifiable characteristic of Korean dance, while bilateral 
movements (movements of the right arm and left leg or left arm and right leg) occur 
frequently as wel. As described above, the first few step sequences in our studio?s 
gibon include both unilateral and bilateral movement. Some other key elements 
which occur later in the dance are a slow lowering to the floor and movements 
 
 63 
 
performed while kneeling on the floor, followed by a rise to a standing position and a 
repetition of the same moves on the other side of the body. As many dances require 
the dancer to lower herself to the floor and rise again, this movement is an important 
part of gibon?s function as a warm-up dance. The dance ends with the dancer 
spinning in circles on the heels, first counterclockwise and then clockwise, while 
performing the same arm ovements that were performed in the dance?s second 
series of steps. Over time, the dancer trains to be able to spin very quickly on the 
heels, an important skil in the Fan Dance in particular although many Korean dances 
include turning of some kind. The ability to turn repeatedly without becoming dizy 
is important for many of the dances.  
Other dances in the beginner clas 
 After dancing gibon one or two times, the beginner clas progreses through a 
series of dances they have already learned, doing each one or two times from 
beginning to end. Buchae chum (Sz , ?Fan Dance?) is often first. Whereas the 
studio?s clases of tenagers perform a group version of buchae chum, bringing their 
fans together to create giant waves, opening and closing flowers, rotating circles, and 
other shapes, the adult beginner clas?s buchae chum is a solo dance. Although this 
dance dates only to the mid-twentieth century, it is a popular dance in presentations of 
Korean culture both within Korea and without, and its relatively recent invention 
often goes unmentioned in performances and writing (for example Hahn Man-Young 
1976: 35). This dance uses colorful costumes and fans, and the dancers are to smile 
during its performance. Among diferent studios, the musical acompaniment to 
buchae chum varies from one choreography to another, although some pieces of 
 
 64 
 
music are more common than others. In the WKDC studio adult clases, the 
acompaniment to this dance is the piece of music most commonly played for buchae 
chum, an instrumental recording of the folk song ?Changbu taryeong? (9 ? ) 
played by gayageum, danso, janggu, buk, geomungo, piri, and haegeum. The piece is 
in the pentatonic mode gyeongjo (?
? ) (sol-la-do-re-mi), with phrases ending on the 
pitch sol below do and returning to do on the downbeat of the next phrase, inviting 
strong movements, such as the dramatic snapping open of a fan, on these downbeats.  
 The recording begins with a gayageum solo and the entrance of the danso on a 
tril. Both fade out and there is a momentary silence before the ensemble as a whole 
begins the song. Most of the instruments play in heterophony, although each 
instrument fulfils its particular function in the texture of the ensemble. The 
geomungo mostly plays supporting low notes which might be thought of as 
functioning like a bas line or as a simplified version of the main melody. 
Instruments sometimes drop in and out of the texture, the most dramatic example of 
which is a brief gayageum solo from 1:45 to 1:54, acompanied only by the janggu. 
The piece begins in the jangdan taryeong, a 12-beat cycle at a moderate tempo, and 
changes to the faster jajinmori at 2:29 before returning to the original tempo and 
jangdan at 3:26 and finaly slowing to an end. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 
 
Interlude Number 3: On jangdan 
   The term jangdan is sometimes translated into English as ?rhythmic cycle.? It 
indicates not only the meter and tempo, but also which beats are to be given 
emphasis, and sometimes which strokes are to be played on the percussion 
instruments. One might relate this to the concept of a ?rock beat,? which indicates 
not only meter but also a general rhythmic patern. However, just as a rock drummer 
can change the rhythm within the general feling of a rock beat, a drummer or other 
musician can play with diferent rhythms and elaborations within the jangdan. The 
versions of jangdan transcribed in this chapter are very basic versions of these 
jangdan and there are many ways to play around with them within certain norms.  
 
Figure 1: Key to Strokes on Janggu 
  deong ( ) Both drum heads are struck   
  kung (? ) Left head is struck 
  deok ( ) Right head is struck with the whole of the stick 
  deo-reo-reo-reo (
??? ) Tip of stick bounces on right drum head  
  gideok (? )  Right head is struck twice, first with the tip of the stick 
           just before the beat, then with the whole stick on the beat 
            deo (
) Right head is struck lightly with the tip of the stick 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
Figure 2: Basic Taryeong Jangdan 
 
 
 
 
 
        (So Inhwa 2002: 108) 
 
  - -   ?    - 
 ?  -  ?   ?  -    
 
deong - -   gideok - deo kung -   gideok kung -   deo 
1      2     3      4    5     6     7     8     9      10    11   12 
 
 
Figure 3: Basic Jajinmori Jangdan 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    - -          -   -           -          ?         - 
 deong  -    -    deong   -    -      deong  -     deok    kung     deok   - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

       -       -           ?     -          ?            - 
deo    deong    -   deong  -     deok    kung   -    deok   kung   deok    - 
  
 
 67 
 
  
 Next in the progresion of dances is often salpuri, which is danced with a 
white silk scarf (?d , sugeon) in the dancer?s hands. The dance begins with slow, 
carefully controlled movements and a sense of intense but restrained internal energy. 
The music used for salpuri is sinawi (	&a
$ ), which begins in the 12-beat jangdan 
known as gutgeori (?b; ). 
 
Figure 4: Basic Gutgeori Jangdan 
 
 
 
 
        (So Inhwa 2002: 118) 
 
    -   ?      ?     
? ? ?  - ?  -        ?    
? ? ?  -  
deong -  gideok   kung  deo-reo-reo-reo - kung -   deok  kung deo-reo-reo-reo  
  
 Sinawi is an improvisational form of music performed by an ensemble of 
instruments, sometimes with a vocalist. In the recording used in the WKDC studio?s 
beginner clas, the instruments are the daegeum, ajaeng, haegeum, gayageum, and 
janggu. Although the sinawi which acompanies salpuri is a secular genre, the name 
sinawi is also used for a genre of music used in shaman rituals for the dead. 
 In this dance, movements are restrained but stres the strong beats in the 
music with subtle movements in the arms and torso, controlled breathing, movements 
of the fet, and flicks of the scarf, with particularly strong emphasis on the first beat 
 
 68 
 
of each twelve-beat cycle. Breathing is a vital element in emphasizing beats and 
creating a feling of tension and release in this dance.  
 One characteristic feature of this and most other choreographies of this dance 
is a point at which the dancer drops the scarf and moves upstage, with her back to the 
falen scarf, only to stop, turn around, return to the scarf, and sink to the ground. She 
then lowers herself to the floor, her head just above the ground, and reaches for the 
scarf, sometimes lingering there depending on the choreography, before gently 
picking up the scarf and rising again to finish the dance. After this point, the jangdan 
changes to jajinmori (at 3:10 in our choreography) and the dance becomes slightly 
faster and more animated, though stil with grace and restraint, as the dancer 
expreses ecstatic joy. 
 This particular salpuri was choreographed by Han Young-Sook as a going-
away present for Kim Seonsaengnim before she emigrated to the United States. 
Although we have learned the dance in clas, only Kim Seonsaengnim is alowed to 
perform it. (Se Chapter 4 for more on the significance and meanings of salpuri.)  
 Sogo chum is often next in the clas?s progresion of completed dances. In 
this dance, each dancer holds a smal drum in the left hand and a stick in the right and 
plays simple paterns on the drum while dancing in a vigorous style suggesting folk 
dance. This dance is acompanied by a recording of taepyeongso (?? , a double 
red instrument), jing (
?, large gong), janggu, buk, and kwaenggwari (*?; , 
smal gong). It begins in a slow 12-beat taryeong jangdan and changes to jajinmori 
at 2:43. At 4:02, the tempo quickens and the jangdan changes to a 5/4 eonmori 
(	?} ; ) jangdan as the dancers move quickly in a circle. At 4:39, it slows down to 
 
 69 
 
a slow 4/4 hwimori (
C}; ) jangdan which changes to a fast hwimori at 5:28. The 
tempo suddenly slows at 5:46 and the piece ends at 5:49. 
Figure 5: Basic Eonmori Jangdan 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   -     ?     
deong  -  deok  kung  deok 
 
 
Figure 6: Basic Hwimori Jangdan 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   -     -   ?      ?  - 
deong  -  deong -  kung  deok  kung - 
  
 The last dance in the progresion is often sam buk chum, ?thre-drum dance.? 
In this dance, the dancers are aranged in a line across the stage, each with one drum 
behind her and one drum on either side of her. Each drum is suspended from a 
wooden stand at about chest height and is double-headed, so that there is only one 
 
 70 
 
drum betwen each pair of dancers; one plays on one head of the drum and the other 
plays on the other head. The dancers perform synchronized movements, beating the 
thre drums within their space in the line. At one point in the dance, the dancers 
move downstage, out of their drumming spaces, for a short time, but they stay for the 
most part in their own smal drumming area and the movements are always to be 
done in perfect synchrony. One particularly impresive move in this dance occurs 
when each dancer turns her body to face one drum and then bends backward to play 
the drum on the opposite side. Another impresive move occurs when the dancers 
play around the entire rim of the drum, starting at the top of the rim and pivoting with 
the fet while twisting into a backbend as they play down the side of the rim and then 
the bottom of the drum, and return to standing upright while finishing the pivot, to 
complete the circle back to the top of the drum. This dance is performed without 
recorded music. Instead, it is acompanied live by the janggu, played by either Kim 
Seonsaengnim or Bae Seonsaengnim. Sebastian Wang, who teaches janggu and 
samullori at the WKDC studio and the University of Maryland in College Park, often 
plays the janggu acompaniment in performances.   
 During the late summer and fal of 2009, the usual progresion of dances was 
disrupted by preparations for the studio?s biennial recital, held at the John F. Kennedy 
Center on November 7, 2009. Extra Sunday rehearsals were also added to the regular 
clas schedule. The beginner clas learned two new dances for this performance. The 
first is refered to as ?Flower Dance? in clas, as it is based on the court dance 
Hwagwanmu (
?? , ?Flower Crown Dance?) but uses nontraditional music and 
therefore does not have a traditional name. The recording to which this dance is 
 
 71 
 
performed features a haegeum along with several non-Korean instruments. The meter 
is in 4/4 and the mode is pentatonic (sol-la-do-re-mi).  
 The second dance is gibangmu, for which the dancers wear atire based on 
gisaeng fashion and dance in a style influenced by gisaeng dances (se Chapter 3 for 
more on this dance?s musical acompaniment and Chapter 4 for more on gisaeng). 
This dance and the ?Flower Dance? took up the bulk of rehearsal time during the 
months before the performance and some of the other dances were practiced only 
occasionaly as a result. The usual progresion of dances (with the inclusion of these 
two newer dances) should resume again now that the performance has occurred. 
Although with such a large repertoire of dances, there are days when one or two 
dances are skipped, in most clases each dance is performed at least once. 
 In addition to the usual progresion of dances performed from start to finish in 
each clas, the beginner clas usualy has a dance in progres and learns a few new 
steps of this dance during each clas period. Whereas Kim Seonsaengnim usualy 
gives litle fedback on the other dances, only occasionaly caling out corrections 
during the dance or pinpointing a problem after the dance is done, she teaches the 
day?s new steps carefully. Each dance is learned this way, litle by litle during each 
clas, until the dance is complete and can be added to the clas?s repertoire.  
 During this instruction time, or when pinpointing problems in the dances 
already learned by the clas, Kim Seonsaengnim teaches primarily by modeling, first 
demonstrating and then having the clas dance the step along with her. She often 
corrects students by imitating their movements in an exaggerated, comical way, 
performing a quick code switch from her elegant, dignified movement style to the 
 
 72 
 
student?s awkward pose or movement. During sogo chum, she might cal out (in 
Korean), ?No! Why are you doing this?? while making a violent stabbing motion with 
the stick against the head of the drum. ?It should be this?? she might say (in 
Korean), lightly tapping the drum with the stick using a buoyant arc of the arm. 
During such reprimands, her expresion is one of feigned (or possibly real) crossnes, 
but she soon switches to amused laughter as the student and others in the clas burst 
out laughing. She may repeat the comical movement to elicit more laughter, and the 
person who made the mistake usualy laughs the loudest, embarased perhaps but not 
too disheartened. Such funny moments are sometimes the highlight of the clas, 
making it fun and relaxing.  
 In this beginner clas, the women sometimes chat a litle betwen dances and 
before and after clas about al sorts of topics such as family, the economy, American 
politics, or news events in Korea. Such chats rarely go on for long, however, and the 
women often go from one dance to the next with litle conversation, quickly grabbing 
some water and the props required for the next dance. As the performance at the John 
F. Kennedy Center approached, the women became very serious about given a 
polished performance and focused on dancing, not socializing. At the same time, 
however, with the added contact of extra rehearsals, helping each other with costumes, 
and knowing that we would perform together, a new but elusive sense of closenes 
began to emerge during this time.  
The Advanced Class 
 Although the advanced dance clas mets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have 
only atended the Thursday clases, as the dance seungmu is taught only on Thursdays 
 
 73 
 
and I was invited specificaly to learn this dance. The advanced clas is mainly made 
up of women who have studied at the studio for a number of years. Several have 
studied there for a decade. In contrast to the beginner clas, which generaly begins 
on time, the advanced clas usualy socializes over food for up to twenty minutes into 
the scheduled clas time. A subgroup of these women mets to socialize beforehand 
and they are usualy siting on the floor sharing food as the rest of the clas arives 
and joins them. The personalities of the women in the clas range from quiet and 
subdued to boisterous and exuberant, and in conversation the more colorful characters 
are often dominant, making the rest of the group laugh frequently. Korean is the 
language of conversation and instruction in both this clas and the beginner clas, 
although English words or phrases may be sprinkled in. Ocasionaly an individual 
switches to English for as long as several sentences (sometimes for my benefit), 
before the conversation inevitably switches back to Korean.  
 The pace of the clas is relaxed and the women in this clas treat each other, 
and both teachers, as friends and peers. After some time, the clas gets up from the 
circle on the floor and performs gibon as a warm-up. Bae Seonsaengnim teaches the 
clas, with Kim Seonsaengnim observing and coaching from the side. This clas 
usualy performs gibangmu, salpuri (with diferent choreography and music from that 
performed in the beginner clas), and o buk chum (?five-drum dance?) from start to 
finish. The clas also sometimes does sanjo (?
? ), which is performed with a fan, 
and occasionaly the same buchae chum and sogo chum as the beginner clas. The 
dance in progres for this clas is seungmu, which the clas has been learning, litle by 
litle, since December 2008. Recent focus on gibangmu for the recital at the John F. 
 
 74 
 
Kennedy Center has required that seungmu and some of the other dances be set aside 
temporarily. Whereas the beginner clas often moves from dance to dance quickly, 
with litle extra time for socializing, transitions betwen dances are often lengthy in 
the advanced clas as there is more conversation. Bae Seonsaengnim sometimes has 
to prod the members of the advanced clas to end their conversations and prepare to 
dance.   
Pansori Classes 
 The two main pansori clases at the Washington Korean Dance Company 
studio met on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
13
 The Thursday clases occur 
imediately after the advanced dance clas ends and consist mostly of women from 
the advanced dance clas. The Wednesday night clases are atended by a few 
women from the advanced dance clas, but most of the women who atend on 
Wednesdays do not take dance clases at the studio, coming only for pansori. The 
format of each clas is the same. 
 Coincidentaly, the teacher of pansori at the Washington Korean Dance 
Company studio has the same name as Kim Seonsaengnim, Kim Eun Su (? 
7? , 
Gim Eun-su). This often leads to confusion as they are sometimes thought to be the 
same person. Pansori Seonsaengnim Kim Eun Su arived in the United States thre 
years ago and has been teaching pansori in the United States for a few years. She is 
quite young, in her late twenties, and has a tomboyish, vigorous personality with an 
intensity that matches her gruff, deep voice. She began studying pansori in middle 
                                                
13
 Women from these clases sometimes have extra smal group lesons at other times 
as wel. 
 
 75 
 
school, atended the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts? high 
school, and majored in pansori in college. She studied pansori under a renowned 
master, Kim Yeong-ja (?	?
W ).  
 Pansori Seonsaengnim is currently studying English in Virginia, a skil she 
hopes wil prove useful both in the United States and in Korea, where English 
proficiency is considered an elite and highly desirable skil. She continues to stay in 
contact with her teacher, Kim Yeong-ja, and may return to Korea in future years to 
asist her with teaching. She also has thoughts of eventualy establishing her own 
pansori school in Virginia and setling there permanently. She is ambitious, working 
toward the hope of a stelar carer as a pansori singer and teacher, and has been very 
active performing and promoting her students. In addition to the group pansori 
clases held at the dance studio, she teaches some other clases in the community and 
has several private students. 
 Pansori clases at the dance studio always begin with the song 
?Geumgangsan? (?J? ), a song about the beauty of Mt. Geumgang. Then other 
songs from the group?s repertoire are practiced, usualy from start to finish. Most of 
these are namdo minyo (i(  ?
 ), folk songs from the southwest region of Korea. 
The group?s current folk song repertoire consists of the following: 
?Ieodo Sana? (
I	?(  ?a ), a song about the women divers of Jeju Island, 
?Deulgukhwa? (\?
 ), ?Wild Chrysanthemum,? 
?Sinsacheolga? (	(?M> ), song of the four seasons, using them as a metaphor for 
diferent stages of life, 
?Donghae Bada? (2?  ?? ), a song about the East Sea, 
 
 76 
 
?Hamyang Yangjamga? (?	?  	?
^> ), a song in which the singer proclaims 
undying love and suggests that no mater what shape her lover takes in his next life 
she wil be reincarnated as its match, 
?Ganggangsullae? (JJ?? ), a song of harvest time, sung during the autumn 
festival Chuseok, and acompanied by dancing in a circle (se Chapter 4), 
?Saetaryeong? (?? ), song of the birds, and 
?Jindo Arirang? (
?(  	?;? ), a widely popular song with many verses which often 
serves as our encore piece because it is an audience favorite. 
 The group also sings ?Sacheolga? (?M> ), another song which uses the four 
seasons to represent diferent stages of a person?s life. This piece is a danga (?> ) a 
short song which is used by pansori singers as a warm-up in performances before 
beginning pieces from the pansori repertoire. The clases are just beginning to learn 
songs from the actual pansori narative repertoire, beginning with ?Sarangga? 
(??> ), the ?Love Song? from Chunhyangga (x?> , the story of Chunhyang).  
 The most striking thing about the pansori clases is the loud, heavy vocal 
quality used in singing. Each woman in the clas sings loudly with a full sound, and 
Pansori Seonsaengnim?s voice is very loud and expresive, with the seasoned 
huskines that comes from years of singing pansori. She comes from the pansori 
school known as Gangsanje (J?
? ), the River and Mountain School.
14
  
                                                
14
 Gangsanje (The River and Mountain School) was created by Pak Yu-jeon (?
,
y), 
who had previously developed the school of pansori known as Seopyeonje (??
? , 
Western School). Acording to Chan E. Park, his change of style was the result of his 
performing in Seoul, where audiences found the Seopyeonje style to be too 
melodramatic. As a result, he developed Gangsanje as an extension of his earlier 
 
 77 
 
 As is the case in Korea as wel (se Park 2003: 160), each student in the clas 
brings an audio recording device, records parts of the clas, and is expected to 
practice at home. Each student is given a paper with the lyrics to the song and 
Pansori Seonsaengnim teaches by modeling lines of the song and having the clas 
echo after her. She often has individuals sing alone as wel so they can hear 
themselves and so that she can pinpoint any individual problems. She breaks lines 
down into single words if necesary, having students echo the word after her and 
sometimes slowing down the tempo in order to make each pitch clear. During the 
clas, Pansori Seonsaengnim acompanies herself and the students on the sori buk 
(?; , drum used in pansori). As in the dance clases, the women in the pansori 
clases sometimes chat betwen songs. Ocasionaly someone brings a snack to share. 
Al the pansori students recently performed in a studio recital held at George Mason 
University on September 27, 2009. It was the first major performance by the group, 
although members have participated in some smaler performances at local cultural 
festivals. Pansori Seonsaengnim?s private students and I give frequent performances 
at cultural festivals and events hosted by local Korean cultural organizations. 
The Symbiotic Relationship Betwen the Arts and the Studio Community  
 Ethnomusicologists have long been interested in the relationship betwen the 
arts and the creation or maintenance of community. At the WKDC studio there is a 
                                                                                                                                      
style, incorporating the stronger elements of Dongpyeonje (2?
? , the Eastern 
School, based on the style of Song Heungnok, ? 
\? ) into his singing (2003: 180). 
Marshal Pihl writes that the River and Mountain School is ?noted for its dense 
rhythmic subtlety and the innovative interaction of its words and drumming paterns? 
and notes that the highly-regarded singer Kim So-hui (??
% ) sang in the style of 
this school (1994: 93). 
 
 78 
 
strong sense of community, but this is a community that comes together specificaly 
for the purpose of studying the arts; without these arts, most of these women would 
not met at al. However, the actual dances taught at the studio involve almost no 
interaction betwen the dancers. In general, when the music is playing, each woman 
in the clas interacts only with herself in the miror, the sound of the music, and 
memories of how the teachers demonstrated the dance.
15
 These are not communaly-
oriented, interactive dances and it would be very possible at a similar studio for 
participants to come into the studio, dance, and leave without much interaction with 
each other at al. Although the arts themselves are the reason that the studio members 
gather, the studio?s sense of community is reinforced during the interactions that take 
place before, after, and betwen the dances. These bonds can keep women coming to 
the studio for a long time, contributing to the long-term health of the studio and 
making continuation of clases possible. In this way, the arts themselves and the 
sense of community at the studio fed each other. 
Cultural Space, Community Practices, and Identity 
The WKDC Studio as a Korean Space and Korean Identity 
 As stated earlier, the presence of many Korean spaces in the area around the 
WKDC studio makes possible a range of culturaly hybrid lifestyles. A person living 
                                                
15
 Only in the dance gibangmu is there any interaction betwen dancers, and this is 
only in the form of eye contact as the dancers face each other in circles and groups. 
There is no physical interaction in this or any of the dances. In the clases for 
tenagers, however, several dances include a great deal of interaction betwen 
dancers. The girls in the tenagers? clas face each other in the dance geommu and 
physicaly connect their fans together in buchae chum. Their performance of the 
dance ganggangsullae involves a great deal of physical interaction (se Chapter 4 for 
more on ganggangsullae). 
 
 79 
 
in the Korean diasporic community can mix habits brought from Korea and habits 
acquired in the U.S. Some of these new habits may be recognized as ?American,? 
while other new habits might not be generaly recognized as ?American,? but may be 
the result of moving to the U.S., being among diferent people with diferent 
resources available, and also perhaps wanting to change or believing one should 
change based on one?s ideas about the United States.  
 The local Korean community, which mixes these Korean- and American-
derived habits, is by nature a hybrid culture, and the people who live within this 
community can practice a range of mixtures of Korean and American habits. The 
exact mixture of habits from the two cultures, and the amount of contact one has with 
Koreans and non-Koreans is sometimes a mater of choice, but some people are 
bound by circumstances that are out of their control. Employment can be easier to 
obtain within the Korean community because of personal networks and Korean-
language clasified ads. Social presures within the Korean community can prevent 
young adults from moving out of their parents? homes and becoming more 
independent. Young adults who have come here from Korea to study English 
sometimes find it dificult to find friends outside of their English clasrooms. Korean 
Christian churches are major gathering places and may atract people because of their 
worship styles and because of the comfort of having felowship with others and 
studying the Bible in Korean. Betwen the time demands of family, work and/or 
school, and (for many people) church, there may not be much time for meting people 
outside the Korean community. 
 
 80 
 
 On the other hand, other people may be separated from ?the Korean 
community? by their jobs, by marying into non-Korean families, by belonging to 
non-Korean places of worship, or by having networks of friends who are not Korean. 
A person who is not connected to ?the Korean community? through networks of 
acquaintances but wants to connect with other Korean people can find it dificult to 
begin. This sems to be one reason for the popularity of churches, as they are 
welcoming and oriented toward felowship, wishing to draw people in and connect 
people with each other. 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company studio also functions as a place 
where Korean women can gather, both to study the arts and to connect with each 
other. These women al have culturaly hybrid lives, although the mixture of Korean 
and American elements varies individualy. In the context of the WKDC studio 
Korean habits are dominant, and this is one reason women come to the studio (myself 
included). The language of instruction and socializing is Korean (though sometimes 
with some English words and phrases sprinkled in or very brief code switches to 
English). Korean social practices are observed as wel, and many of these are 
embedded in the language, such as gretings and ways of showing respect.  
 When food is shared at the WKDC studio, it is usualy identifiably Korean, 
bought from one of the local Korean-owned stores. Red bean bread and other 
asorted breads from one of the local Korean bakeries is a common snack in the 
advanced clas. Some other foods which have been shared in various clases are: 
dried squid, dried persimons, fruit, various kinds of ddeok (? , soft, chewy rice 
cake), red bean ice cream pops, and gimbap (?? , rice and seawed rolls similar to 
 
 81 
 
sushi but using diferent ingredients). The fact that the foods shared at the studio are 
identifiably Korean is significant, but it is also significant that very litle efort is 
required to obtain these kinds of food. Because of the presence of so many Korean 
busineses, these foods are just a part of daily life for many people here.  
 The dominance of Korean language, social practices, and food make the 
WKDC what I would cal a ?Korean space.? This is a separate isue from the subject 
mater taught at the studio. If the subject of study were tap dance but these practices 
remained the same, it would stil be a ?Korean space? because it would function as a 
space where Korean habits are dominant, the most fundamental habit of which is 
language. On the other hand, a studio could teach Korean dance without being a 
?Korean space? if elements like language and social practices were dominantly non-
Korean. In many American university world music ensembles, for example, the 
cultural space in the clasroom is quite diferent from the culture of the music?s place 
of origin.
16
 
 The WKDC studio performs many functions for many diferent people, but 
one of the most obvious of these is maintaining a sense of Korean national or ethnic 
identity. By both teaching Korean performing arts and being a ?Korean space,? the 
studio offers a place to be with other Korean women and to learn art forms that 
epitomize Korean national identity. A studio needn?t be both a ?Korean space? and a 
                                                
16
 Some teachers of these ensembles make an efort to incorporate extra-musical 
cultural practices into the world music ensemble clasroom and bring it closer to a 
space which resembles the native culture. One major insurmountable diference in 
many (though not al) cases is language: much of culture is so embedded in language 
that the necesity of teaching in English, and students? inability to understand the 
music?s native language, make it impossible to create an approximation of the 
music?s native cultural seting. 
 
 82 
 
place of instruction in Korean arts to contribute to a sense of Korean identity; a tap 
dance studio made up mostly of Korean people and dominated by Korean language 
has the potential to reinforce Korean identity as does a pansori clas taught in English 
in an American university. It is significant that the WKDC studio is both a place of 
instruction in Korean arts and a ?Korean space.? 
 For some women who study at the studio, and especialy for the second-
generation and ?1.5 generation? youth of the tenager clases, the studio may be one 
of their only connections to Korean culture. On the other hand, some of the women at 
the studio are imersed in the local Korean diasporic culture and maintain close 
transnational ties with Korea through travel, personal communications, and media. 
As much of their lives is conducted in Korean spaces, there may be litle need to 
reinforce Korean identity. For them, the studio may be a place not for adventure into 
new cultural teritory but for the comfort of being among other Korean women. Yet 
the dance studio alows both groups of women to perform Korean identity in a public 
way, transforming into an image of Korean women that is symbolic of Korea itself. 
The Studio as a Women?s Comunity 
 It is significant that the WKDC clases are made up entirely of women, who 
are grouped in clases roughly by age. Korea is primarily a homosocial culture, 
especialy among the older generations. Women?s clubs are common in Korea, and 
the studio functions as such a club for some of the women. There they can talk 
animatedly, tel jokes, and have fun together.  
 Although men can perform Korean dance and major in it in university dance 
departments, Korean dance, like balet, continues to be dominated by women. The 
 
 83 
 
WKDC studio?s dance clases do not currently include any men, which may be due to 
a number of factors. The gracefulnes of Korean dance may be sen by some men 
and boys as les masculine, and therefore les desirable to learn, than Taekwondo or 
dance styles such as popping and b-boying (breakdancing), which are very popular 
among Korean and Korean-American male youth (in Korea and the United States). 
Most of the dances taught at the studio are performed exclusively by female dancers 
in Korea, although a few are performed by both men and women (seungmu and 
salpuri). The repertoire taught in the studio?s community clases does not currently 
include any of the dances asociated with male dancers, such as hallyangmu (??? ) 
and dongnaehakchum (2??z , ?Crane Dance?), but mask dance?a genre 
asociated with men?is to be added to the clas repertoire in the near future. Besides 
the repertoire and the dance style itself, the women-dominated social environment of 
the studio might be uncomfortable for a man to enter into, but this is a mater of 
conjecture at present.  
 The efect of the women-only environment of the studio on social interaction 
within it also remains a mater of conjecture; whether the women?s paterns of 
socializing in the studio are also exhibited at home, at work, or in other parts of life is 
beyond the scope of this thesis and would require further study. Nevertheles, the 
studio is one center of socialization that follows a common patern among Korean 
women in Korea and the United States: the formation of women?s groups as main 
centers for socializing. It is possible that the colorful personalities which emerge 
from some of the members is the result of this environment, but it is also possible that 
those who are especialy animated in the studio are equaly animated in other parts of 
 
 84 
 
their lives. Korea has had a long history of separate spheres for men and women, and 
although there is more mixing of men and women in recent decades in relationships 
such as dating, friendships, and work colleagues, Korea remains fairly homosocial, 
especialy among the older generations.   
  In the generation of Korean women represented by older members of the 
WKDC studio?s advanced adult clas, the prevalence of homosocial interaction and 
certain historical factors in Korea have produced a generation of Korean women who 
are often characterized as aggresively asertive. Leading Korean feminist Cho 
Haejoang describes women of this generation as powerful within their homosocial 
sphere. In contrast, when she arived in the United States in 1971, she says, she was 
taken aback by American female college students? concern with sexual atractivenes, 
femininity, and finding dates: 
In my opinion, the United States was a terible place for women. Of 
course, in south Korea there were also girls who wanted to be sexy and 
who thought of romantic love al the time, but they were the minority. 
Most south Korean girls cared much more about their female friends 
than about boyfriends. I remember thinking to myself, ?You are lucky 
to be a Korean woman. You do not have to adopt a self-conscious 
pose to atract other people?s atention, men?s in particular. You say 
whatever you want to say without worying about losing your 
femininity, and you are not preoccupied with your external 
appearance.? 
 It took me a long time to realize that I came from a homo-
social culture, a culture that values same-sex friendship and social 
interaction over heterosexual relationships and romance. . . . In spite 
of my pride in the powerful individual Korean women who surrounded 
me in my youth, I came to realize that these women were not 
collectively empowered. That is, in spite of the homo-social 
circumstances that appeared so laudable to me, south Korean women?s 
power was not institutionalized and consequently was limited to their 
imediate social relationships. 
 This realization leads me to the first question that I raise in this 
chapter. Why could south Korean women appear to be so powerful 
when they are structuraly so powerles?? (2002: 166)  
 
 85 
 
 In the context of the WKDC studio, the women do indeed appear to be very 
powerful, possesing strong personalities. This may be partly due to the women-only 
environment of the studio. The homosocial nature of the studio may very wel 
produce a sense of comfort and les self-editing of expresion than would be the case 
if men were present. Yet I hesitate to make this point without further study. I do 
wonder whether certain men might be able to fit into the fabric of the studio without 
changing its environment or the social interactions which occur within it. A long 
tradition of separate spheres for men and women in Korean society has meant that 
women often continued to dominate in designated women?s spheres, such as the 
woman?s part of the household or shaman rituals, even if men entered into them.  So 
far, there have not been any men present in the dance clases, but the presence of a 
man in the pansori clases for a period of time did not afect the women?s expresion; 
he was quiet and the women interacted with him litle, continuing to dominate 
conversation in the clas.  
Comunal Efforts and Identity as a Member of the Studio 
 As discussed earlier in this chapter, most of a dance clas?s time at the WKDC 
studio is devoted to performing one dance after another, without stopping during 
dances. Participants interact litle during these dances, as interaction is not built into 
the choreography, but they may converse betwen dances.  
 In addition to the already-learned dances practiced from start to finish, there is 
always a new dance in progres which is learned litle by litle each wek. It can take 
several months to learn a dance this way. During the part of the clas devoted to 
learning new steps, there is more interaction betwen participants and the teacher. 
 
 86 
 
During this time, the pace of the clas slows due to the need for verbal explanation 
and repetition of the day?s new steps. As mentioned earlier, humor is an important 
part of instruction, and laughing about mistakes together can create a sense of 
bonding betwen participants during this time.  
 As stated earlier, during the dances that are performed from start to finish 
there is litle interaction betwen participants; each dancer primarily watches herself 
in the miror. There is an exception to this, however: when someone joins the clas 
for the first time and must catch up by learning from the clas?s other participants. 
When someone new joins the clas, she learns by standing in the back of the group 
and following everyone else, trying to stay out of their way and perhaps feling quite 
foolish. I went through this and saw another woman do the same. Sometimes this 
learning period can be very long as the new student struggles not only with learning 
the dance style but also with remembering the choreography to many dances at once. 
During this time, the newcomer learns primarily by watching the other women in the 
clas.  
 When I first joined the beginner clas, I was one of thre women who had not 
yet learned al of sam buk chum, and we al came to each clas early in order to get 
caught up in a smal group leson with Kim Seonsaengnim. In addition, this group of 
women often stayed late on Saturday afternoons in order to review hat they had 
learned and to help each other. Other members of the studio also helped us learn the 
dance if they were present while we were practicing. Thus, although the dances? 
choreographies are not very interactive, they are sometimes learned in very 
communal ways. 
 
 87 
 
 At times, studio members contribute their individual profesional talents to the 
studio, especialy in preparation for performances. This adds to the studio?s sense of 
communal efort. A graphic designer in the beginner dance clas designed very 
impresive posters for the studio?s recital at the John F. Kennedy Center on 
November 7, 2009, while an artist in the pansori clas painted a beautiful backdrop 
for the pansori studio?s performance on September 27, 2009 at George Mason 
University.  
 The Washington Korean Dance Company studio is a place where women can 
come together in a Korean space and learn arts that are symbolic of Korean national 
identity. This has the potential to strengthen individual participants? sense of Korean 
national and/or ethnic identity. At the same time, a woman who joins the studio 
becomes part of the studio?s community and is able to include belonging to this group 
as a part of her identity. Because of the studio?s good reputation, being a part of it 
can be a source of pride. 
Authenticity, Ownership, and Performance: Maintaining the Status of the Studio 
 One aspect of the WKDC studio which may be a source of pride to some 
participants is the training of its teachers, who have excelent credentials to match 
their talent. Kim Seonsaengnim, Bae Seonsaengnim, and Pansori Seonsaengnim al 
trained from a young age, majored in their respective performing arts in college, and 
learned from excelent teachers. The National Treasures system, which designates 
certain arts Intangible Cultural Asets and names certain people either holders of an 
Intangible Cultural Aset (such as a particular dance style) or National Living 
Treasures themselves, can be significant in determining the value of teacher-to-
 
 88 
 
student genealogies. Kim Seonsaengnim?s teacher, the legendary dancer Han Young-
sook, and Pansori Seonsaengnim?s teacher Kim Yeong Ja have both been recognized 
by this system. These teaching genealogies can be an important factor for some 
people in judging the authenticity and quality of the studio.  
At the same time, authenticity and quality must be maintained by members of 
the studio. Once one learns a dance or song, it does not become her property to 
perform wherever she pleases. She must obtain permision from her teacher to 
perform, and her performance represents the studio and her line of teachers.  
Members of the studio?s community adult dance clases occasionaly perform 
alone (with the teachers? permision) at places such as a workplace international 
festival, a conference, or a Korean cultural event. In general, however, the adult 
dance clases only perform as a group at the studio?s biennial recital. The 
profesional dance company, on the other hand, gives many performances. These 
performances are often in the government sector or at educational venues such as 
museums or universities, and the quality of the venue and purpose of the performance 
are important.  
The studio?s pansori clases have also given several performances in the 
community, while Pansori Seonsaengnim?s private students and I have given more 
frequent performances. As the pansori studio is relatively new, Pansori 
Seonsaengnim spent much of last year presenting us in frequent performances for 
Korean or multi-cultural festivals and gatherings of Korean cultural organizations. 
This year the studio is more established, due in part to our winning many awards at 
the 9
th
 National Korean Traditional Performing Arts Competition (
?9
% ?
?  ?	?  
 
 89 
 
?	?
% ), held in New York City on August 29, 2009. Our performances in the 
competition atracted a great deal of atention from New York City?s Korean 
traditional arts organizations. As a result, the standard for our performance venues 
has gone up as Pansori Seonsaengnim becomes more careful about choosing where 
we perform.  
As mentioned earlier, anyone from the studio who wishes to perform dance or 
pansori must have permision from the appropriate teacher, and this permision is not 
always granted; the quality of the event is important in order to maintain the studio?s 
cultural capital in the local Korean community. This protects the status of the studio, 
and by extension the identities of its participants as members of the studio 
community.   
 
 
 90 
 
Chapter 3: Interacting with the Body: Chalenges of Korean 
Dance and Pansori, and the Potential for ?Optimal Experience? 
or ?Flow? 
Introduction 
 In the WKDC studio?s dance clases, most of clas time is spent performing 
dances that have already been learned, from start to finish. During these dances, there 
is litle interaction betwen the dancers. Instead, the dancers interact with the music, 
memory of the teacher?s version of the movements, and their reflection in the miror, 
rather than with other people.
 
 Of the dances practiced by the studio?s adult clases, 
only in part of the dance gibangmu is there any interaction betwen the women. In 
this dance, the dancers briefly face each other acros the stage and then in a circle, but 
there is no physical contact betwen people in any of the dances and gibangmu is the 
only dance which includes any eye contact. This makes the community practices 
described in Chapter 2, such as chating and eating together, very important to the 
studio?s sense of community, as the dances themselves do not encourage interaction 
betwen dancers. Interaction before, after, and betwen dances forms the community 
of the studio, although the knowledge that we are al learning the dances together 
forms the basis for such interaction.   
 The experience of performing the dances in clas is largely personal, yet it is 
clear from participating and observing others that doing the dances is deeply 
satisfying to the women at the studio. During the dances, the women?s faces are often 
marked with an expresion of determination and focused concentration. Those who 
 
 91 
 
are more advanced infuse their dance with a strong sense of some inner state, which is 
one of the most important elements of performance in Korean dance.  
 Whereas Durkheim?s theory of ?efervescence? has been applied to 
ethnomusicological thought about music and dance that is performed as a group, with 
interaction betwen players or dancers, it does not apply wel to the more personal 
dance experience of the WKDC studio. It does explain the feling of togethernes 
that comes from the interaction in the last parts of gibangmu, but not the satisfaction 
from the highly individual, personal dancing of the other choreographies in which 
each woman dances in her own space and focuses primarily on herself.  
 In order to explain the satisfaction of doing the dances themselves, I turn to 
Csikszentmihalyi?s theory of ?optimal experience? or ?flow? (1990). 
?Optimal Experience,? or ?Flow?  
 In a study seking to examine how happines is generated, psychologist 
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi found that, universaly across many cultures, a deep sense 
of happines can be generated by hard work, chalenging oneself, and overcoming 
dificult circumstances. In further studies, he found that people who performed 
chalenging tasks that generated satisfaction described the experience in similar terms 
and had in common certain criteria which made the task satisfying, despite the wide 
range of tasks which generated the feling. Csikszentmihalyi cals the feling 
?optimal experience? or ?flow? and describes it as ?the state in which people are so 
involved in an activity that nothing else sems to mater; the experience itself is so 
enjoyable that people wil do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it? 
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 4). He expands on this basic definition: 
 
 92 
 
Contrary to what we usualy believe, moments like these, the best 
moments of our lives, are not the pasive, receptive, relaxing times . . . 
The best moments usualy occur when a person?s body or mind is 
stretched to its limits in a voluntary efort to acomplish something 
dificult and worthwhile. . . . Such experiences are not necesarily 
pleasant at the time they occur. The swimer?s muscles might have 
ached during his most memorable race, his lungs might have felt like 
exploding, and he might have been dizy with fatigue?yet these could 
have been the best moments of his life. (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 3-4) 
 
 Facing chalenges and experiencing ?flow? is not only an enjoyable 
experience when it happens but can also cause long-term changes in the individual as 
he or she develops skils, a sense of focus, and confidence in his or her abilities.  
 
The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in 
consciousnes. This happens when psychic energy?or atention?is 
invested in realistic goals, and when skils match the opportunities for 
action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awarenes because a 
person must concentrate atention on the task at hand and momentarily 
forget everything else. These periods of struggle to overcome 
chalenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times of their 
lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has 
invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a 
more complex being. By stretching skils, by reaching toward higher 
chalenges, such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary 
individual. (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 6) 
 
 Csikszentmihalyi found that people are drawn to activities which produce this 
feling and although certain activities are especialy conducive to producing this state 
(such as yoga, playing music, dancing, and skiing), almost any task can be designed 
to produce the feling of optimal experience if designed with certain criteria in mind. 
 Csikszentmihalyi identifies a set of common criteria which make an activity 
more likely to produce the state of ?optimal experience.? The most important 
criterion is that the activity be chalenging to the individual without being beyond the 
individual?s abilities. As the task chalenges the individual, his or her skil improves, 
 
 93 
 
and the task must therefore become increasingly dificult over time in order continue 
to be chalenging. Another criterion is the ability to concentrate on the task. The 
presence of goals that are reachable is also important, as these goals help the person 
maintain focused concentration on the task. The task should also be bounded in time 
and place; the individual should know that the task wil not continue forever or in al 
parts of his life but wil end at some point in time or with movement to a diferent 
location. This too alows him to concentrate on the task. The possibility of 
imediate fedback is another criterion, as the individual must be able to tel whether 
she is doing wel and whether she is meting her goals (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 49; 
Turino 2008: 4-5). 
Applying Csikszentmihalyi?s Theory to Korean Dance 
 Dance clases at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio can be ideal 
for creating the experience of flow because each dancer can chalenge herself with 
increasing dificulty to match her skil level. As each woman dances in her own 
space and monitors herself in the miror, she can create new goals for herself, 
learning the choreography first and then examining the details of the teacher?s version 
of the dance, adding new layers of complexity to her dance each time. Even if she 
eventualy fels she has mastered a dance, there are always new ays to chalenge 
herself and new discoveries to be made, even about dances she has been performing 
for a long time. The clas also mets the criteria of being bound by time and space 
and of having the possibility of imediate fedback, as each woman monitors herself 
in the miror and may get fedback from her teachers as wel. 
 
 94 
 
 This chapter explores the physical chalenges of Korean dance and pansori as 
taught at the Washington Korean Dance Company. I suggest that these chalenges, 
and the ways in which they condition the body and mind to reach new levels of skil, 
contribute to a learning environment within the studio that is ideal for the creation of 
?optimal experience? or ?flow.? At the same time, the dances are gentler on the body 
than many other forms of dance and therefore alow the women who study at the 
Washington Korean Dance Company studio to study there for a long time, reaching 
new levels of skil without becoming frustrated by the physical limitations of aging. 
This chapter emphasizes the carefully disguised physical dificulty of the dance and 
the importance of both repetition and variation which make it possible for individuals 
in the clases to continualy chalenge themselves. Korean dance is not as physicaly 
easy as it looks nor does its movement style come as naturaly as one might gues, 
and both of these aspects of the dance make it a potentialy long-term, rewarding 
pursuit for women of a variety of levels of ability and ambition. Furthermore, these 
factors give the dance student an ideal environment in which to experience the state 
of ?optimal experience? or ?flow.? 
Meot and Heung  
 Nearly every introductory article or book on Korean dance includes the 
significance of two inner states which are supposed to be conveyed by the dancer: 
meot (g ) and heung (
\). Van Zile writes: 
No discussion of traditional Korean dance would be complete without 
mention of m?t and h?ng. Among the more dificult Korean words to 
translate, these terms refer, respectively, to an inner spiritual quality of 
charm or grace and a feling of lively animation or enthusiasm, both of 
which lead to an almost irepresible joy or giddines. This is 
 
 95 
 
described by Koreans as the ultimate quality the Korean dancer strives 
to achieve in folk dance, and specific movement characteristics either 
contribute to achieving this desired state or are the physical 
manifestation of its having been achieved. (2001: 12) 
  
 Korean dance does not generaly tel stories but instead conveys moods, states 
of mind, and ideas. Much of the introductory literature streses this point, 
emphasizing the value placed on conveying spiritual states rather than on pure 
athleticism (for example, Heyman 1990: 63; King 1977: 37; Chung 1997: 94; Loken 
1978: 43, 45-46).
 17
 Although the point is sometimes overstated, undervaluing both 
the importance of training in Korean dance and the importance of emotional 
expresion in other dance genres such as balet, it identifies a valid diference. 
 While the value placed on internal spiritual states and on meot and heung over 
athleticism can make Korean dances les outwardly showy than many other kinds of 
dance and may make them look physicaly easy, these same internal elements of the 
dance can actualy make Korean dances much more physicaly demanding than they 
appear to be. Some of the more active dances, like sogo chum, o buk chum, and sam 
buk chum, are clearly aerobic, as their movements are fast and strong. However, 
thre more subtle elements of Korean dance add to the physical demand of these, and 
indeed al, dances performed at the WKDC studio. The first is the necesity of breath 
control, as breathing is choreographed into the dance in order to create lifting and 
lowering, expansion and contraction, and tension and release in the movements. The 
second is the importance of generating an internal state that is strong enough to be 
perceptible, whether this internal state takes the form of light exuberance (as in sogo 
                                                
17
 For a particularly detailed study of emotions perceived by Korean viewers in the 
dance salpuri, se Loken-Kim?s disertation (1989). 
 
 96 
 
chum, o buk chum, and sam buk chum) or includes a heavier feling (as in parts of 
salpuri and seungmu). The third is the importance of physical restraint, so that al 
movements are carefully controlled, even in the more active, exuberant dances. In al 
dances, the tension betwen the intense inner mood radiating out and the outward 
restraint required to temper it requires a great deal of energy and control. As a result 
of this tension, the dances can be intense exercise while the movements themselves 
may sem easy to those unfamiliar with the demands of the dance.  
 Awarenes of, and ability to produce, meot and heung is acquired only over 
time. As a result, a beginning dancer may perform the dance?s choreography without 
feling that the movements are particularly strenuous, while a more experienced 
dancer may sweat despite having years of training. As the beginning dancer 
improves, however, she may come to perceive that her dance lacks mat (M , tastines) 
and begin to infuse her dance with meot and heung, adding a new level of skil to her 
dance and also increasing its physical dificulty. Thus, Korean dances such as those 
practiced at the WKDC studio provide continuous chalenges for the dancer as she 
studies dance and improves over time.  
Repetition and Variation  
 Dance students at the WKDC studio perform each dance many times over the 
course of the months or years during which they study. In general, each dance is 
performed from start to finish one or two times per clas period, sometimes with 
fedback from the teachers and sometimes without. This might sem antithetical to 
the creation of flow, potentialy resulting in boredom. However, because of the 
nature of the learning proces and the elusive chalenges of the dances, students can 
 
 97 
 
continualy find new ays to chalenge themselves, pinpointing new details and 
subtleties to hone in on. Furthermore, repetition gives the student many opportunities 
to experiment, trying new variations within the choreography to progres as a dancer. 
  In the Washington Korean Dance Company?s adult beginner clas, Kim 
Seonsaengnim teaches each new dance carefully, adding on a new section during each 
clas period until the dance is complete. As the participants are not trained dancers, 
however, the result is never exactly uniform and each participant produces her own 
variation of Kim Seonsaengnim?s model. After the dance is learned (which usualy 
takes several months), it is performed in its entirety at each clas and Kim 
Seonsaengnim rarely dances together with the students. If a new student joins the 
clas, she must learn the rest of the clas?s existing repertoire by watching the other 
students and following them. Kim Seonsaengnim occasionaly dances together with 
the clas during some sections of the dances, and she may pinpoint certain moves and 
make corrections after the dance has been performed in its entirety. However, there 
are moves in some of the dances that I have never sen her demonstrate. As a result, 
on occasions when Kim Seonsaengnim does demonstrate, it is very important to 
watch carefully and remember it later. The demonstration of a step can lead to major 
revelations that can be incorporated into one?s dancing. As a result, even though 
participants in the clases perform the same dances for months or years, there are 
always new discoveries to be made.  
 Slight variations are not just the product of unprofesional dancing; they are a 
part of the nature of Korean dance. Each dancer has her own way of dancing and of 
interpreting each piece of music. As a result, even if one fels she has mastered a 
 
 98 
 
dance she can always experiment with subtle movements within given choreography, 
even trying on others? interpretations. One important area in which dancers can 
experiment is in the interpretation of rhythm.
18
 
 In most musical acompaniments for Korean dance, meters are compound, 
often in 12/8. Furthermore, meter in Korean music is based on a set of jangdan 
(
b? ), basic rhythmic paterns that can be realized in many diferent elaborate ways. 
In pansori, the jangdan is played on one drum, the sori buk. In Korean dance 
acompaniment, the jangdan is usualy played by several percussion instruments, 
each with its own function in the ensemble. Collectively, these instruments create 
elaborate rhythms.  
 In a given recording used for dance acompaniment, the percussion 
instruments elaborate on the basic form of the jangdan in many diferent ways over 
the course of the recording. The choreographer who creates a dance to previously 
recorded music, and the dancer who performs the choreography, must therefore listen 
to the musicians? realizations of the jangdan and create their own bodily 
interpretations of the music. In general, the movements of the first part of the dance 
salpuri, which is performed to the 12-beat jangdan gutgeori (?b; ), emphasize the 
first beat of each twelve-beat cycle. Other emphases within the twelve-beat cycle 
depend on the percussionists? realization of the jangdan in the recording, the 
choreographer?s interpretation, and the dancer?s own style. Emphasis on certain beats 
                                                
18
 Of course, an acomplished dancer can also create new choreographies and develop 
the skil of improvisation. In the context of the Washington Korean Dance 
Company?s community dance clases, however, participants do not generaly do 
either of these. 
 
 99 
 
is usualy prescribed by the choreographer or teacher, but the dancer can sometimes 
experiment with subtle changes in movement within the choreography.  
 Diferent dancers interpret rhythms diferently. Bae Seonsaengnim, for 
example, tends to emphasize syncopation in her dancing by adding slight momentary 
acelerations in movement (initiated internaly with acelerations in breath) on certain 
beats or subdivisions. Kim Seonsaengnim usualy teaches the same movements to the 
adult beginner clas at an even velocity, without these extra acelerated pulses. 
Sometimes some of the pulses come into her dancing when she is demonstrating with 
performance-level presence, but her dancing never includes as many as Bae 
Seonsaengnim?s.  
 In the advanced clas, where I have not yet learned the choreography of some 
of the dances, I get through those dances I do not yet know by following the other 
women, just as I did during my first few months in the beginner clas. I usualy focus 
on following Bae Seonsaengnim, but if she is not dancing I often choose to folow 
another woman in the clas, who is also a member of the profesional company. Yet 
there are slight variations in how she embodies the complex rhythms of the music 
compared to Bae Seonsaengnim. These variations make the dance sem even les 
familiar as I try to imitate her version of the dance.  
 The possibility of many interpretations of the music offers continued 
chalenges to the dance student. Even if I were to learn the dances perfectly, 
imitating Kim Seonsaengnim or Bae Seonsaengnim exactly, I could always chalenge 
myself by trying other interpretations of the music, either trying out other dancers? 
interpretations or creating my own. The ability to experiment with rhythm or to try 
 
 100 
 
on other dancers? idiosyncratic interpretations of the rhythm provides new ays for 
the dancer to chalenge herself and widen her possibilities. 
 To ilustrate this point, I take here a jangdan, gutgeori, giving several of the 
many ways a janggu player might realize it.  
 
Figure 7: Sample Realizations of Gutgeori on Janggu 
Sample 1. 
 
 * 
 
 
 
    -   ?      ?     
? ? ?  -  ?  -        ?    
? ? ?  -  
deong -  gideok   kung  deo-reo-reo-reo - kung  -   deok  kung deo-reo-reo-reo  
 
 
Sample 2. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    -   ?    ?  ?     
? ? ?  ?  ?       ?    ?  ?        -  
deong -  gideok  ku kung deo-reo-reo-reo ku kung deok gideok ku kung deok  - 
 
 
 
* Note that Western notation for this symbol is approximate each time it appears. 
 
 101 
 
Sample 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
       ?    ?  ?       ?     ?  ?     ?    ?   ?      - 
deong deok gideok ku kung deok gideok  ku kung  deok gideok ku kung deok - 
 
 
 
Sample 4. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  - -       -    -         ?         ?  ?          - 
deong  - -     deong   -    -    deok   kung  deok  ku kung  deok   - 
 
 Below are several examples of diferent ways a dancer might interpret a 
gutgeori patern. The interpretation wil vary acording to the percussionists? and 
other musicians? playing and may be choreographed into the dance or elaborated 
upon by the performer. I include the dancer?s performance of the rhythm only over a 
basic gutgeori notation so as not to give the impresion that a particular musical 
realization of gutgeori wil always produce the same interpretation by the dancer. 
 To indicate the dancer?s interpretation of the rhythm, I indicate only breath 
paterns. An infinite variety of movements could be based on the foundation of these 
breath paterns. The breath patern is indicated using an arow with dots on each 
 
 102 
 
emphasized beat. Ascending lines indicate inhalations and descending lines 
exhalations. The slope of the line indicates the speed of breath; a steper slope 
indicates faster breath and a more gradual slope indicates slower breath.  
(Note: Slopes are approximations only and are not writen precisely to scale.) 
Figure 8: Sample Interpretations of Gutgeori in Dance 
 
Sample 1. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sample 2. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 103 
 
 
Sample 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sample 4. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
Sample 5. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sample 6. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 105 
 
 The choreographer?s, teacher?s, and individual dancer?s interpretations of the 
music can also be afected by other instruments besides percussion. In many of the 
dance acompaniments, the instruments weave in and out of the music?s overal 
texture with changes in volume, register, and rhythmic density. At the WKDC studio, 
dances are performed to recordings on CD (with the exceptions of sam buk chum and 
o buk chum). The music in most of these recordings was improvised at the time the 
recording was made, as most of the pieces which acompany Korean dance are not 
composed and are highly improvisational. In the piece ?Changbu taryeong? which 
acompanies buchae chum, each musician follows a melody heterophonicaly, 
improvising variations on the melody. In most of the other recordings, however, 
there is no set melody and each musician improvises acording to more general rules 
for each instrument. Diferent performances of the highly improvisational sinawi, for 
example, come out quite diferently. When a dancer choreographs a version of 
salpuri to go with a particular sinawi recording, she must interpret the musical events 
that occurred in the original musical improvisation. If another dancer performs the 
choreography, she too must listen to the recording and interpret the musical events 
that occurred in the musicians? original improvisation, translating the sounds into 
movements. Choreography made for one recording of sinawi is unlikely to fit another 
recording of sinawi, as each performance of this improvisational music genre is 
diferent.  
 In Korea there is also a tradition of joint improvisation betwen the dancer 
and live musicians in dances such as salpuri. In such situations there is a dialectical 
relationship betwen the dancer and the musicians so that the dancer has the power to 
 
 106 
 
afect the musicians? playing. Today, however, dances are usualy choreographed 
and are often performed to recorded music. Sometimes, choreographed dances are 
performed with live musicians who must follow the dancer. 
 Most of the acompaniments used in the WKDC studio are rhythmicaly 
complex. In the recording which acompanies gibangmu, for example, percussion 
instruments in the ensemble include janggu, buk, kwaenggwari (*?; , smal 
gong), and jing (
?, large gong), while melodic instruments are the daegeum (? , 
flute), haegeum (?? ), geomungo (b?? ), gayageum, and the voice of a pansori 
singer. Because of the complex rhythms created by diferent instruments playing 
their individual improvisations within the whole texture, the dancer can sometimes 
choose betwen many possible ways to interpret the rhythm in the recording by 
focusing either on the basic jangdan or on the diferent rhythmic elaborations of 
specific instruments.  
 As the practice at the WKDC studio is to perform the same dances in each 
clas period for many months and even years, (while gradualy adding new dances to 
the repertoire), the dancer has many opportunities to experiment with subtle changes 
in her dancing.  The dance?s ability to continualy chalenge without being rough on 
the body makes possible years of satisfaction doing the dance. This aspect of Korean 
dance is one of its inherent features that makes possible the long-term continuation of 
the WKDC studio?s community as the women can find enjoyment in the dance to suit 
their desired level of chalenge for many years. 
 
 107 
 
Aging as a Dance Student, Dancing as One Ages 
 Whereas dancers of some forms such as balet cease performing 
profesionaly as they get older, Korean dancers of certain genres can dance wel into 
old age. Although the flashier dances such as o buk chum, sam buk chum, and buchae 
chum are generaly performed by younger dancers profesionaly, certain genres, such 
as salpuri and seungmu, are often performed by renowned older dancers. One reason 
this is possible is because the movements of these dances, and Korean dance in 
general, are gentle on the body, putting much les stres on the joints and fet than 
many other types of dance. Another reason is the emphasis on the conveyance of 
emotional states and ideas rather than on athleticism or youthful beauty. Perhaps the 
most important reason is the status that these particular dances hold as Intangible 
Cultural Asets. 
 In Korea, shamans, Buddhist monks, and folk entertainers have long danced 
regardles of age. Although performances by gisaeng were once intended purely as 
entertainment, and young gisaeng prefered in dance performances, the mid- to late-
twentieth-century designation of certain dances as national Intangible Cultural Asets 
led to great interest in older dancers. As a result, renowned older dancers have not 
only taught younger performers but have also continued performing themselves. 
Those who are chosen as National Living Treasures are required to both teach and 
perform, and one must be at least fifty years old to be honored with this title.
19
  
 Whereas a woman in her fifties, sixties, or seventies would sem out of place 
in a balet or hip hop performance, women of this age fit naturaly into today?s range 
                                                
19
 Se Van Zile (2001: 51-62) for more on the National Treasure system and dance. 
 
 108 
 
of images of Korean dancer. The same is true of pansori, as many renowned pansori 
singers perform wel into old age and are believed to gain new depth of expresion 
over the years. Therefore, women who study at places such as the Washington 
Korean Dance Company studio need not be discouraged from studying there for 
decades, for they have many models of famous older dancers who continued to 
perform and be respected for their performances. The ability to perform Korean 
dance and pansori does not suddenly deteriorate with age (except in cases of serious 
disability) but can ripen and gain emotional depth. Here is another way in which the 
nature of these arts themselves makes possible the continuation of the studio?s 
community in the long term.  
 Furthermore, the dance itself conditions the body in certain ways, 
strengthening the core and legs, increasing breath control, and improving hand-eye 
coordination and the ability to manipulate objects deftly. Whereas some kinds of 
dance are rough on the body, Korean dance is gentle on the joints and conditions the 
body to dance for a long time. Physical benefits of this can transfer into other parts of 
life as wel, especialy as dancers age. Pansori, too, conditions the body to sing for a 
long time, as the act of singing pansori causes physical changes in vocal production. 
As one sings, one is able to set new goals which can only be met with these physical 
changes in the voice. Again, this creates a situation conducive to ?optimal 
experience? or ?flow? as the body changes in preparation for new chalenges. 
Physical Transformations 
 Physical transformations can occur while studying either dance or pansori at 
the Washington Korean Dance Company studio, leading to newfound abilities and the 
 
 109 
 
potential for new goals. One subtle ability which can be gained through both dance 
and pansori is the ability to control breath. Breath control, which is so important in 
pansori and Korean dance, is common in health-oriented mind-body practices such as 
yoga and tai chi and thus may have health benefits in addition to providing a 
chalenge in the studio. Loken-Kim notes the role of breath in many traditions that 
sek to alter states of consciousnes (1978: 45). Although Csikszentmihalyi does not 
specificaly addres the use of breath, he writes of the efectivenes of such Eastern 
mind-body practices in creating altered states of consciousnes and ?flow? 
experiences (1990: 20-21, 103-106). 
 Another aspect of Korean dance that may subtly condition the body and mind 
over time is the act of performing unilateral movements, such as raising the left arm 
and left foot together, in addition to bilateral movements. The use of both bilateral 
movements and unilateral movements (as in the second and third step sequences of 
gibon, respectively) forces the brain to work the body in a variety of ways and can 
strengthen stability and groundednes, not only in dance but also in daily movement. 
 One of the more obvious physical transformations that can occur when 
studying Korean dance, aside from general physical fitnes from aerobic activity, is 
an increase in leg strength. One of the more physicaly demanding movements in 
Korean dance is the lowering of the body to the floor, sometimes in a squating 
position and sometimes with one knee to the ground, and the raising of the body from 
such a position. The dancer must do this quickly in some dances and very slowly in 
others. Often much of the dancer?s weight is on one foot during these moves, 
requiring her to raise and lower her body primarily using only one leg. Such level 
 
 110 
 
changes require leg strength, balance, and control. Although many Korean people are 
quite acustomed to such level changes from siting on the floor, the amount of 
control required to do it slowly or to do it quickly while performing a 360-degre turn 
and manipulating fans, knives, or flowers is a diferent mater altogether. Some of 
the squats required in seungmu are deemed very dificult by the women in the clas, 
and I have experienced a tremendous increase in leg strength since I joined the studio.  
 Strength in the core of the body is also very important, especialy in seungmu, 
and I have noticed changes in my core strength since I began to learn this particular 
dance. Studying seungmu has improved al my other dances, as the control learned in 
this dance caries over into other choreographies. Leg strength, the ability to perform 
highly-controlled level changes, and strength in the core of the body have the 
potential to help with stability in daily life as wel. 
 Pansori, too, causes physical changes in the body as the voice becomes 
stronger. Wiloughby (2004: 125-141), Pihl (1994: 104-105), and Park (2003: 157-
163) al write about the famously grueling proces of obtaining the right voice for 
pansori. Although I have been atending pansori clases for only a few days per 
wek, my own voice has become stronger and thicker, with the ability to produce a 
slightly rougher sound and a vocal timbre closer to that of a double red instrument. 
As a result, certain sounds which I was physicaly unable to produce now come 
automaticaly with my vocal quality.  
 In a pansori clas last year, Pansori Seonsaengnim asured the clas that her 
teaching would match our skil level and that we would be ready for increasingly 
complex singing styles over time. She told us not to worry that pansori would be too 
 
 111 
 
dificult; we would be ready when the time came to sing it. The first year, she said, 
we would learn a simple version. She then demonstrated singing a pasage 
straightforwardly, with litle ornamentation. The second year, we would learn it 
again with more embelishment. The third year, the embelishments would increase, 
and she demonstrated again with embelishment that requires vocal training. The 
pansori student always has new chalenges to met as the voice becomes more 
seasoned.   
Extensions of the Body 
 Besides changing the body itself, Korean dance gives one the ability to 
manipulate extensions of the body. Many of the dances taught at the Washington 
Korean Dance Company studio use objects as extensions of the arms. Knowing how 
to manipulate the objects is a skil one must develop while learning the dances. To a 
new dancer, the objects? behavior may sem unpredictable. Over time, however, she 
learns to manipulate each object, such as how to flick the hand in just the right way to 
make the scarf snap in the right direction and fal to the ground on the correct beat. 
Skils developed in the studio learning how to manipulate these objects can 
potentialy cary into other parts of life, as the dancer gains confidence in her hand-
eye coordination and ability to manipulate objects dexterously. As almost every 
dance requires mastery of a diferent object, a student at the WKDC studio can 
encounter new chalenges with the addition of each new dance to her repertoire. 
 
 112 
 
Figure 9: A Sampling of Dances Practiced at the WKDC Studio and their Props 
Dance Props 
Gibangmu (Gisaeng Dance) 1 smal scarf 
Sam Buk Chum (Thre Drum Dance) 2 thick drum sticks; 3 drums 
suspended from stands 
O Buk Chum (Five Drum Dance) 2 thick drum sticks; 5 drums 
suspended from stands 
?Flower Dance? (based on the court dance 
Hwagwanmu) 
2 large flowers; long sleves 
Geommu (Knife/Sword Dance) 2 dance knives 
Buchae Chum (Fan Dance) 2 large fans 
Seungmu (Buddhist Monk?s/Nun?s Dance) 2 thick drum sticks; very long 
sleves; drum suspended from stand 
Salpuri 1 long scarf 
Janggu Chum (Hourglas Drum Dance) 1 stick; hourglas drum 
Jindo Buk Chum (Barel-Shaped Drum Dance) 1 stick; barel-shaped drum 
Sanjo 1 fan 
Gibon (Basic) none 
Taepyeongmu (Dance of Peace) none 
Ganggangsullae (Harvest Moon Dance) none 
 
Note: In many dances, skirts are also manipulated with the hands. 
 
The Importance of Training in Korean Dance 
 The movement style of the dances described in this thesis is identifiable as 
clearly Korean, but this does not mean it comes naturaly with growing up in Korea. 
It is a specific aestheticized way of moving which requires training and a great deal of 
work. Although it may be easier for someone who has grown up seing the 
movements than for someone who has not, many Korean people today do not observe 
traditional dance to a significant extent. It may be that this is a generational 
diference, but I suspect it has long been this way since the kinds of dance discussed 
in this thesis are derived mostly from the traditions of gisaeng, who performed for a 
 
 113 
 
privileged few. People train to become dancers; if people merely picked up this style 
of dance naturaly, there would be no need for training schools
20
. 
 Like Judy Van Zile (2001: 5), I have sen members of audiences in Korea 
dance spontaneously at performances in a way characteristic of Korean folk 
movement, with emphasis on shoulder movement and arms raised with relaxed hands. 
In al cases, these have been members of older generations, although I suspect young 
people in Korea have viewed such movement enough to at least imitate it. Yet this 
kind of movement is derived from folk dance traditionaly performed by nondancers 
for pleasure in vilage social setings. It is quite diferent from the profesional style 
of dance taught at the WKDC studio and at community centers, private institutes, and 
university dance departments in Korea. 
 Even among trained dancers, everyday movement and dance movement are 
quite diferent, requiring a kind of code-switching betwen the two physical modes. 
Van Zile briefly describes such a code switch in a performance at the twelfth Seoul 
Dance Festival: 
A lone male dancer, clad in pants and jacket clearly inspired by the 
atire of aristocrats of former times (yangban), appeared to wander 
through a forest. His movements could have come from anywhere?
England, the United States, Japan. But in a moment I was very 
definitely in Korea; the meandering stopped as the dancer placed both 
fet together, torso tilted forward a bit, and knees slightly bent . . . 
(2001: 3) 
 
                                                
20
 Note that this thesis is not dealing with folk dances traditionaly performed by 
regular people in vilages. In Korea, the dance genres taught at the WKDC studio are 
danced by trained profesional dancers. People who perform these dances today are 
trained in universities or private dance institutes, but in earlier times the precursors to 
these dances were taught in schools for gisaeng. 
 
 114 
 
 Similarly, there is a moment at the end of a video of Yi Mae-bang performing 
salpuri in which he suddenly breaks out of his dance movements in order to take a 
bow (se the YouTube video listed as ?Salpuri? (performed by Yi Mae-bang) in the 
videography). Whereas his movements during the dance are characterized by a 
tension betwen internal initiation and external control, and the rate of movement is 
quite slow, he suddenly breaks from this movement style and becomes relaxed, arms 
loose at his sides, and bows at a normal speed of movement for everyday life. The 
efect is a sudden ?frame break? (Gofman 1986: 345-377), a code switch betwen 
movement styles that makes it clear that the dance movements, which semed to be 
so innately part of him during the dance, form only one of his movement languages. 
 Code-switching betwen movement styles happens often at the WKDC studio. 
Bae Seonsaengnim?s dancing is elegant, delicate, and carefully controlled, with 
initiation from the breath. Her movement is regulated by the style of the dance. In 
life, however, she switches to more relaxed movement. At the studio, she often 
expreses her energetic personality by entertaining the other women with 
exaggerated, comical movements that have no place in Korean dance. Ocasionaly, 
if something goes slightly wrong during dance practice, she deliberately breaks from 
her refined dancer?s movements into a brief comical style. For example, recently, 
when one of her seungmu sleves got caught in the ceiling pipes for a moment and 
brought down a clump of dust, she broke frame from her otherworldly dance to cough 
exaggeratedly before continuing with her semingly deeply spiritual movements 
(Goffman 1986: 345-377).  
 
 115 
 
 When I began studying at the WKDC studio, I expected to lag behind the 
other women in the dance and pansori clases due to my not being Korean. To my 
surprise, however, I started picking up ways of moving and ways of using the voice 
that are considered to be identifiably Korean, to the point that I began giving 
performances in pansori along with Pansori Seonsaengnim?s private students and 
Kim Seonsaengnim sometimes had me model specific movements for the rest of the 
women in the beginner dance clas. I have found, perhaps predictably, that my years 
of training in music and dabbling in dance give me advantages over many of the 
women in the studio despite my not being Korean. Of course, if I were to join a clas 
of university students majoring in these arts, my abilities at this point would probably 
place me at the bottom of the clas due to their long-term formal training in these 
particular arts. However, my ability to excel within the context of the WKDC 
studio?s community clases sems to me to disrupt a generaly asumed link betwen 
Koreannes and Korean dance and betwen Koreannes and pansori-style vocal 
timbre. For the women in the studio, Korean dance movement is not acquired 
naturaly simply by growing up in Korea, as most of them have, but must be learned.  
 Further studies on this would be interesting, comparing the everyday 
movement characteristics of diferent generations and comparing women who remain 
in Korea throughout their lives with women who imigrate to the U.S. or another 
country. One might suspect that these women?s everyday movement could have 
changed since imigrating to the United States?that they must relearn ?Korean 
movement? because they are in the U.S.?but I do not think this is the case based on 
 
 116 
 
my experiences in Korea and the women?s retention of Korean language and other 
Korean cultural elements in the U.S.  
 Moving as a trained Korean dancer moves and singing in a pansori style do 
not come naturaly with being a part of Korean culture. Observation of performances 
over time is necesary to acquire these particular aestheticized styles, but many 
Korean people, both in Korea and in diasporic communities, do not spend a 
significant amount of time observing such performances. Even for those who do, 
training is necesary and this training can be very chalenging. 
Conclusion 
 The physical chalenges of Korean dance are deceptively hidden in the nature 
of the dance. Breath control, the creation of an outwardly radiating inner state, and 
the bodily control required to temper it require a great deal of energy and add an 
elusive element to the achievement of excelence in dance. Some of the movements 
of Korean dance are also physicaly dificult, and as these movements condition the 
body, the individual becomes ready to face new chalenges. Pansori, too, causes 
physical changes which prepare the body to take on new chalenges. Skilful 
manipulation of objects adds another element of dificulty and each new dance one 
learns may introduce a new object to be mastered.  
 The result of al these factors is that study of Korean dance and pansori offers 
many chalenges to learners of varying skil levels. As the learner?s skil increases, 
she can set new goals for herself, and mastery requires many years of study. Yet the 
dance is also gentle on the joints and the rest of the body. Combined with the focus 
on inner states and the coresponding belief that dancers can improve as they age, 
 
 117 
 
Korean dance is wel-suited to long-term study, presenting chalenges for every skil 
level acording to the ambition of the individual learner without becoming impossible 
with age or being abusive to the body.  
 Al of these factors create an ideal situation for the creation of 
Csikszentmihalyi?s ?optimal experience? or ?flow.? Hard physical work and personal 
ambition to reach new goals can produce a rewarding state of flow in which the music, 
the movements, and the image in the miror are al that mater at that moment. Due to 
the importance of meot and heung, it is dificult to dance wel without this level of 
focus on the present.  
 Singing pansori and minyo also requires a high level of focus. The amount of 
breath required and the feling of resonance in the body can produce an elated feling, 
as can hearing one?s own voice at its fulest. The act of leting so much sound out of 
the body can produce a feling of catharsis, as I and several other women in the clas 
have noted, even though most of the songs sung in the clas are not the tragic material 
made to expres the sentiment of han.
21
  
 Despite the significance of potential ?flow? experiences created in the dance 
and pansori clases, students? engagement with the dances and songs can be 
rewarding on additional, much deeper levels. Chapter 4 explores existing discourse 
about the meanings and histories of Korean dances, pansori, and namdo minyo and 
examines how this discourse can afect the individual learner?s engagement with the 
dances and songs on a more intelectual and emotional level as she binds herself with 
                                                
21
 Han is a deep feling of sorrow and pain, especialy from oppresion. Se Chapter 
4 under ?Salpuri? for further explanation. Also se Wiloughby (2000; 2002) on the 
expresion of han in pansori. 
 
 118 
 
other, largely imagined, people of the past and present and constructs an increasingly 
integrated and complex identity.  
 
 119 
 
Chapter 4: Interacting with Discourse, Memory, and History: 
Generating Personal Meaning  
Introduction: Beyond Challenges and Focus: Creating Meanings 
 Some of the women who study at the WKDC studio may have litle or no 
knowledge of specific discourse about the dances taught there, coming only for 
exercise, socializing, fun, and personal chalenge. To these women, the dances may 
represent a generalized Korean culture. However, many at the studio have at least 
some knowledge of common discourse regarding the meanings and histories of 
certain dances. To a learner at the studio familiar with this discourse, performing 
these dances can shape individual identity in more complex ways.  
 Discourse about meanings and histories of Korean dances is often vague and 
uncertain, though sometimes presented uncriticaly as fact in conversation or writen 
material. Uncertainty about meanings and origins among more careful writers is 
reflected in the vague language of certain introductory materials on Korean dance. In 
les cautious texts, meanings and histories commonly ascribed to dances but lacking 
historical evidence are repeated uncriticaly as comon-knowledge facts. 
 The uncertainty of meanings and histories among some scholars of Korean 
dance and the false certainty of others make for frustrating research, but in the context 
of a dance and music studio this same uncertainty and opennes of meaning, 
tentatively prescribed through discourse but stil debatable, gives students many 
options from which to form their own personal emotional and intelectual connections 
to the dances. 
 
 120 
 
 This chapter focuses on particular dances taught at the studio (and, to a leser 
extent, on pansori and namdo minyo) and the variety of meanings and histories 
asociated with them. To a Korean dance or pansori student living in a diasporic 
community, these dances can be significant not only as representations of Korea in 
general, but also as representations of specific Korean spiritual traditions and 
sentiments believed to be particular to Korean people. In particular, each dance can 
be tied to historicaly significant groups of Korean women: gisaeng, shamans and 
their (mostly female) clients, and women of Jeolla-do, the southwestern part of the 
country.
2
 
 Significantly, each of these groups of women is now part of national images 
of traditional Korean culture but is also stigmatized by some parts of Korean society. 
Some people also view these groups as empowering women?s spheres within 
traditional Korean culture. Because of the variety of viewpoints regarding these 
women of the past and present, participants at the WKDC studio can, consciously or 
subconsciously, choose to find personal meaning in some of these interpretations 
while ignoring others.  
                                                
2
 This chapter focuses on these groups of women because the particular dances 
taught at the WKDC studio are asociated with these groups. Members of the WKDC 
studio are al women and learn dances which are primarily performed by women. 
This does not mean that al Korean dance and singing is exclusively performed by 
women and asociated with women?s performing traditions. Men perform pansori 
(which was originaly performed only by men) and certain dances as wel, and the 
male traditions of gwangdae (? , traveling entertainers) and of scholars? training in 
the arts are particular male traditions from which certain performing arts emerge.  
 
 
 121 
 
Deper Meanings of Dances 
Seungmu 
 The dance seungmu offers an example of the variety of meanings available to 
the dancer due to under-documented history. This dance is generaly understood to 
represent a Buddhist monk or nun and is usualy translated into English as ?Monk?s 
Dance? or ?Nun?s Dance.? Although there is a repertoire of genuinely religious 
ceremonial dances performed by Buddhist monks and nuns, seungmu is a purely 
theatrical dance, performed by a profesional dancer for an audience in a secular 
seting.  
 The dancer wears a robe (usualy white) with very long sleves, a red sash 
which is looped diagonaly over one shoulder, and a square-shaped white hat similar 
to those worn in actual Buddhist dances. The long sleves are the focus of the dance, 
as they fly into the air in lines or large curves. These sleves conceal drum sticks 
held in the hands which extend the arms as if they were the wings of a great bird.  
 In the last part of the dance, the dancer?s arms emerge from holes within the 
sleves, drumsticks in hand, and the dancer plays a solo on a large drum upstage on 
stage left. Although the dancer does not play the drum until the end of the dance, the 
drum is noticeably present on stage during the entire piece, acting as the stage?s 
single piece of scenery until it becomes a part of the performance. Although the 
movements in most of the dance are unlike those in actual Buddhist dances (Van Zile 
2001: 17), the drum is a clear reference to Buddhism, as a very large drum is used in 
Buddhist ritual and a drum similar to that used in seungmu is used in the Buddhist 
dance beopgochum (??z ). The sound of a moktak (~ , a smal hollow wooden 
 
 122 
 
instrument struck with a stick) is heard in the beginning of the musical 
acompaniment to seungmu. This is another very clear reference to Buddhism, as this 
instrument is used by Buddhist monks and nuns for a variety of purposes. The rest of 
the music in seungmu is quite diferent from music used in Buddhist ceremonies. 
 The dance seungmu is sometimes said to represent a Buddhist monk who 
grapples with the temptation of a beautiful woman (Hahn Man-Young 1976: 35). 
Others say it represents the ecstasy of ataining enlightenment (Van Zile 2001:17). 
Many sources claim that it developed as a dance over a long period of time, being 
performed by entertainers before reaching its twentieth-century form (for example 
Cultural Properties Administration 2000: 103-105), but due to the absence of 
historical records on dance, these claims cannot be verified.  
 Some sources atribute the ?current version? of seungmu to Han Seong-Jun 
(the grandfather and teacher of Han Young-Sook), who recreated it for the stage 
based on older forms of the dance which were being performed by entertainers 
(Ch?ng By?ng-ho 1997: 91). Just how he might have changed it is not specified. 
Several sources (Ch?ng By?ng-ho 1997: 91) say that this dance was performed by 
gisaeng, while others make no mention of gisaeng whatsoever. None of the sources 
in English addres the presence of diferent styles of this dance, such as the styles of 
Han Young-Sook, Yi Mae-bang, and their respective students. How these individuals 
have afected the dance does not sem to be taken into acount as the twentieth-
century version of seungmu is discussed as one single unit, even though it is actualy 
a dance with varying styles and a history of change in the twentieth century. 
 
 123 
 
 Although the dance?s identity as representing Buddhism is generaly 
understood and often repeated uncriticaly, not everyone agres even with this most 
fundamental aspect of the dance?s supposed meaning and significance. Le Kyong-
hee writes of an interview ith Le Ae-ju, a profesor of Korean dance at Seoul 
National University, who was a student of Han Young-Sook. Profesor Le prefers to 
think of the dance as related to shamanism, nature, and indigenous Korean folk 
movement and sentiments rather than Buddhism: 
 
 ?I believe that the nun?s dance embodies not only the basic 
structure of Korean traditional dance but also the stream of our 
national history itself,? said Le Ae-ju, a leading sungmu performer 
and profesor of Korean traditional dance at Seoul National 
University. ?Whenever I prostrate myself on the stage to begin this 
dance,? she noted, ?I fel as if I am turning into a smal sed buried in 
the ground, or an embryo in the womb.? 
 She envisions the sed sprouting and growing into a big tre. 
After a thriving summer, the tre wil wither in acordance with the 
laws of nature and, eventualy, the leaves wil fal, signifying the finale 
of an era. ?And my dance wil also come to a close,? she said. 
 Prof. Le went on to explain that, like most theorists in Korean 
native dance, she fels there is litle religious influence of Buddhism in 
the nun?s dance, in spite of its title and the costume of the dancer. 
 ?If we have to discuss the religious aspect of this dance,? she 
said, ?I?d rather say that it has more shamanistic influences than 
Buddhist.? (Le 2001: 174) 
 
 Her emphasis on shamanism is intimately connected with ideas of national 
identity, both because of shamanism?s significance as Korea?s indigenous religion 
and because of shamanism?s connection to nature. Le Kyong-hee elaborates later in 
the article, based on Profesor Le?s interview: 
Le explains that sungmu has a much deeper meaning than most 
people believe nowadays. ?There is no doubt that the dance represents 
the folk dance traditions of the Koreans, including al important 
movements and symbolizing al inherent emotions,? she said. 
 
 124 
 
 ?And it is a very philosophical dance, too,? she emphasized. ?It 
stands for our traditional philosophy of heaven and earth, and their 
harmony.? ? 
 In this sense, the spiritual origin of the dance antedates the 
introduction of Buddhism into Korea, with its remote roots in the 
primitive religious faith of the Korean people. Le argued, ?I believe 
that the dance continued to evolve through our history, absorbing 
shamanistic elements and finaly borrowing Buddhist-style props in 
later centuries, probably during the Choson period,? she said. (Le 
2001: 175) 
 
 Profesor Le?s interpretation reflects her felings about shamanism and 
Buddhism in Korean history and as representing Korean culture. Her ability to 
believe this alternate interpretation of seungmu?s history demonstrates the vaguenes 
of its origins in common discourse. This vaguenes makes alternative interpretations 
aceptable in general discourse about the dance, even when such interpretations are 
not supported by actual historical documentation. Her emotional connection to 
shamanism, as expresed in her statements above, also reflects a not-uncommon view 
that ties shamanism with Korean national identity.  
Shamanism, Korean National Identity, and Gender  
 Shamanism in Korea predates the coming of Korea?s other major belief 
systems: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. With its belief in spirits existing 
in households and natural features such as mountains, it is a religion intimately tied 
with place. Whereas Korea?s later belief systems came from distant lands, 
shamanism is Korea?s indigenous religion, and, despite general stigmatization of 
shamanism as superstition, it holds a place in national consciousnes as representing 
indigenous Korean culture. Current perceptions of shamanism as representing 
indigenous Korea are largely due to nationalistic eforts in the twentieth century. 
Keith Howard writes: 
 
 125 
 
The perception that shamanism forms the cultural core of Korea stems 
largely from Ch?oe Nams?n and Yi N?nghwa?s eforts in the 1920s as 
part of the cultural nationalist movement, and the subsequent activities 
of folklorists, to find icons of identity that would mark Korea as 
distinct from its neighbors, Japan as a colonial ruler and China as the 
progenitor of Confucian orthodoxy. It has become a virtual testament 
of faith that shamanism emerged during the Bronze Age, some 2,500 
years ago. In 1987, Kim Y?lgyu wrote: 
 
Shamanism is gradualy disappearing from Korea, but 
our shaman consciousnes is not easily lost. The 
consciousnes may remain with Koreans forever, 
because it once gave meaning to our lives (1987: 168-
9). 
 
Shamanism is, then, an important symbol, fully meting the nationalist 
and identity aims of the preservation system.? (2006: 135) 
 
 
  A great deal of Korean music and dance is believed to have distant roots in 
shamanism, a view that has been promoted in certain writings on these arts. On the 
topic of shamanist roots of Korean music, Howard writes the following: 
Shamanism is considered to have the longest history of any religion on 
the peninsula (in English, se Clark 1932/1961: 175-7; Han Woo Keun 
1970: 52; Joe 1972: 11 and 43-4; Im Sok-jae 2003: 3; Le Yong-shik 
2004: 17), and the perception that it constitutes a core element of 
Korean culture, tied to the populist minjung culture, has been a 
common theme of Korean scholarship over the last few decades (Kim 
Y?lgyu 1971: 274; Yi Sangil 1984: 31-5; Kim Kwang-il 1984: 261-9; 
Cho Hung-youn 1987; Sim Woo-Sung 1994: 77). In one notable case, 
Hahn Man-young, encountered in Chapter 2 questioning whether 
shaman rituals should be preserved within the state system, has 
contributed a much-reproduced acount that promotes shaman roots 
for much of the traditional music canon (Hahn 1975: 17-22; 1985: 16-
31; 1990: chapter 2). (Howard 2006: 122-123)
23
 
                                                
23
 The pasage on Hahn Man-young from Chapter 2 of Howard?s book relates the 
following: 
 
Hahn Man-young [Han Many?ng], whom I interviewed in 1990, 
commented: 
We have a healthy cultural heritage but we have also 
chosen to preserve traditions that to my mind are not so 
 
 126 
 
 Many writers on religion in Korea have found that Korea?s shamanist 
foundation also afected each of the other religions to come to Korea, as elements of 
shamanism influenced Korean Buddhism, and elements of both shamanism and 
Buddhism influenced Korean Confucianism. Some have argued that Korea?s 
shamanistic religious foundation can be sen in the practices of Korean Christian 
churches (for example Jang 2004; Andrew Eungi Kim 2000). 
 Today, some people continue to se shamans regularly while others sek them 
out in times of emergency as an extra precaution. Stil others reject shamanism 
altogether. In general, shamans and most of their clients are women, and shamanism 
is often thought of as a women?s religion, although men can participate as wel (se 
Kendal 1985: 165-166).  
 Shaman rituals have long been places for women to gather, dance, and share 
an experience that can be spiritual, cathartic, fun, conducive to bonding betwen 
women, and socialy transgresive in an aceptable space (se, for example, Kendal 
1977; 1985: 165). Furthermore, shamanism afords special otherworldly powers to 
women. Women who become shamans after mariage also become the heads of their 
households, higher in status than their husbands, and thus shamanism gives real-
                                                                                                                                      
healthy. For example, we have appointed folksongs 
formerly sung by courtesans and shaman rituals as 
Intangible Cultural Properties. Yes, they are part of our 
tradition, but have we stopped to make judgements 
about their value? They are base culture. Even if they 
are to be preserved, they should not be diseminated to 
our people. Are such things ?Asets?? I don?t think so, 
because they are a reflection of a corrupt society. 
Han was at the time a distinguished and influential musicologist who 
had published a body of research on folksongs and Buddhist music; he 
retired from his profesorship at Seoul National University in 1992 to 
pursue a vocation as a Christian minister. (2006: 35) 
 
 127 
 
world powers to certain women, besides their connection to the supernatural (Wilson 
1983: 113). Because of the powers aforded to women by this religion, and because 
of its creating a space for women to transgres against social norms, shamanism is 
sometimes viewed as a religion that has been empowering to Korean women. 
 The following pasage comes from Choi He An?s book Korean Women and 
God: Experiencing God in a Multireligious Colonial Context (2005), which reflects 
on Korea?s main religions and their impact on the lives of Korean women. Its section 
on shamanism demonstrates Choi?s beliefs about connections betwen shamanism, 
women, and han, beliefs which are shared by a significant number of people: 
One of the unique characteristics of Korean Shamanism is that it 
represents the voices of oppresed people. Using forms of 
Shamanism, oppresed people can satirize their oppresors and 
caricature their oppresive reality. Shamanism has been and is 
sometimes caled the religion of Korean women, because most 
shamanistic rituals have been practiced exclusively by female shamans 
and most myths and stories have been handed down by women 
throughout the generations. ? However, not only female shamans, but 
also most Korean women perform shamanistic rituals in their everyday 
lives. Shamanistic rituals and storyteling provide women with a 
cathartic release from their oppresive reality and empower them to 
share their pain. Hence, in shamanistic practices, women tel their han 
and share the reality of their lives. (Choi He An 2005: 17) 
 
 As shown in this pasage, whereas shamanism is stigmatized in much of 
Korean society, some people view it as a symbol for the inner strength and spirituality 
of Korean women and as a tool of the oppresed. This is a view that some people 
studying Korean dance and other arts may share, while others may not. 
 To some people, shamanism, though often relegated to superstition, stil 
symbolizes a women?s sphere of power and mutual support. To some people it 
symbolizes a pure, indigenous religion of Korea. A dancer?s view of shamanism 
 
 128 
 
afects how she perceives supposed shamanistic elements in Korean dance. In the 
case of Profesor Le Ae-ju, her felings about shamanism as Korea?s indigenous 
culture influence her interpretation of the dance seungmu as shamanistic in origin, an 
interpretation that clearly makes the dance more personaly meaningful to her. On the 
other hand, Van Zile writes of an event at Hala Huhm?s Korean dance studio in 
Hawai?i in which Christian parents of several dance students refused to let their 
children participate because they were to learn movements used in shaman and 
Buddhist rituals (2001: 231). Depending on how a dancer views shamanism, the 
supposed shamanistic elements of certain dances can be either a source of inspiration 
or a source of discomfort.  
Salpuri 
 Just as seungmu has a ?common-knowledge? but tenuous relationship to 
Buddhism, the dance salpuri is commonly understood to be derived from shamanism, 
although diferent people have diferent understandings of the exact nature of the 
relationship (Van Zile, 2001; Loken-Kim 1989; Cultural Properties Administration 
2000).
24
 The name of the dance is sometimes translated into English as ?exorcism 
dance,? and salpuri is the name of a shaman ritual for the dead. Despite the name, 
however, the dance bears litle resemblance to actual shaman ritual and it has been 
argued that the dance has no discernable connection to shamanism (Van Zile, 2001; 
                                                
24
 Several poorly-researched (or perhaps just poorly worded) introductory writings on 
Korean dance discuss the theatrical dance salpuri as if it were actualy a part of 
shaman ritual: ?The original intent of Salp?uri was exorcism? (Hahn Man-Young 
1976: 35). ?I have been thriled at the richnes of Korean dance, and the final tribute 
I must pay is to the shaman-derived exorcistic dance known as Salp?uri (exorcise the 
evil influences). A solo dance, typicaly performed by the oldest mudang [Korean 
term for a particular type of shaman], dresed entirely in white, using a long white 
scarf . . . ? (King 1977: 54). 
 
 129 
 
Loken-Kim 1989; Cultural Properties Administration 2000). Van Zile (2001) 
synthesizes the work of a number of other writers on this topic, suggesting that 
changes undergone by both salpuri and shaman rituals complicate any eforts to 
determine an exact relationship betwen these traditions: 
Connections are often made betwen contemporary theatrical versions 
of salp?uri and shamanism. Dancers and dance teachers consistently 
point out that salp?uri has its roots in shamanism. The basis of the 
concert form of this dance sen today is generaly atributed to Han 
S?ng-jun, who is said to have choreographed it in Seoul in the mid-
1930s, and to have named it after a rhythm and dance used in shaman 
rituals in South Ch?la Province (Loken-Kim and Crump 1993: 14; Ku 
He-seo 1997: 156; and Kim Kyoung-ae 1997: 178). Howard (1989: 
174 and 248) points to changes that occurred in Chindo Sshikkim Kut 
[shaman ritual for the dead] to prepare it for designation as an 
Intangible Cultural Aset, as wel as changes that have taken place 
since its designation, indicating the efect of recent theatrical dance 
forms on it, particularly as performed by what he refers to as the 
?Aset Team,? the individuals designated by the government to 
perpetuate this ritual. Huhm, who studied salp?uri with Han S?ng-jun 
in the 1930s, believed that despite contemporary dancers? atributions 
of the concert dance to Han, today?s version is quite diferent from that 
taught by him (personal communication 8 No. 1992). Acording to 
her, in Han?s version the dancer was frequently stationary or almost 
stationary and sang a great deal; today?s dancers are in almost constant 
motion and do not sing. (Her description of Han?s version of the 
dance is, interestingly, similar to some of the sections of Chindo 
Sshikkim Kut analyzed here, in which singing predominates.) 
Although the dance may originaly have had strong ties to shamanism, 
Huhm believes its present theatrical manifestation is related to 
shamanism in name only, and that it is a direct descendent of a dance 
developed by female court entertainers (kisaeng) during the twentieth 
century. 
 Korean scholar Ch?ng Py?ng-ho concurs with Huhm: 
 
Originaly caled Sug?nch?um because it is performed 
with a long handkerchief (sug?n), [it] was renamed 
under Japanese colonial rule [1910-1945] by ? Han 
S?ng-jun. Though the term salp?uri refers to the 
expulsion of evil spirits and bad luck, the dance does 
not contain any direct reference to shamanic exorcism. 
It is merely a beautiful dance performed to the 
 
 130 
 
acompaniment of shamanic music from the southern 
region. (Chung Byung-ho 1997b: 146) 
 
Ch?ng also states that Han was an instructor at a kyobang, a place 
where female entertainers were taught the performing arts (ibid.). 
Loken-Kim, citing Kim On-gy?ng, indicates that the female 
entertainers? version of salp?uri was based specificaly on one part of 
what she cals Honam Sshikkim Kut, that is, Sshikkim Kut from the 
southwestern provinces (1989: 129-130). Ku He-seo (1997: 164) 
states that To Salp?uri, a particular version of salp?uri performed by 
Kim Suk-cha [and now by Yang Gil-sun, 	??? ], a dancer and 
member of a family of hereditary shamans, derived from the Todang 
Kut of Ky?nggi Province. If al these comments are acurate, it is 
possible some versions of salp?uri are directly tied to shaman dance 
and some are not.
25
 
 Kendal suggests numerous connections betwen ?dancing 
girls? and shamans (1991-1992: 54-56), and posits that shamans and 
female entertainers ?may have borowed elements of each others? 
performance? (ibid.: 60). Howard points to links based on 
performance and clas (1992). Shaman Pak In-o (in Guilemoz 1998: 
75) states that in the past shamans ?were often recruited from among 
the ranks of dancers.? Unfortunately, the current state of Korean 
dance history does not alow us to know just how much, if any, of 
Han?s choreography was based on ritual dance, how much of what is 
sen in contemporary salp?uri has afected the movements performed 
today by Chindo shamans, and whether specific movements originated 
among shamans, female entertainers, or other dancers. (Van Zile 
2001: 159-160) 
 
 More certain than the dubious shamanistic origins of salpuri are the 
sentiments it is meant to expres. Its title is often translated ?release from sorrow,? 
and the dance is meant to expres (usualy a woman?s) sorrow and biternes which is 
eventualy released and replaced by ecstatic joy. More specificaly, the first part of 
the dance expreses the sentiment of han, a sentiment that is often believed to be 
uniquely Korean and is a mixture of sadnes, longing, regret, and biternes (se Van 
Zile 2001; Wiloughby 2000; Loken-Kim 1989). This dance is particularly asociated 
                                                
25
 Se the videography (under the section titled Salpuri) for videos of Kim Suk-ja and 
Yang Gil-sun performing Do Salpuri. 
 
 131 
 
with the han of women. Both han in general and the han of women in particular are 
common themes in this dance, pansori, Korean films (most famously those of Im 
Kwon-taek (
P? , Im Gwon-taek), and other artistic and creative forms.
26
  
 The asociation of salpuri with women is so strong that some writings on 
Korean dance ignore the presence of male dancers, such as the famous Yi Mae-bang, 
and claim that salpuri is exclusively a women?s genre (for example, Hahn Man-
Young 1976: 35).
27
 The book Korean Intangible Cultural Properties: Traditional 
Music and Dance, published by the Korean Cultural Properties Administration, 
claims, ?Today, Salpurichum is danced exclusively by women soloists, so that it 
exudes a peculiarly feminine grace seasoned with eroticism? (Cultural Properties 
Administration 2000: 117). While the supposed ?erotic? element of salpuri is highly 
questionable and its exclusivity to women inacurate, this particular book makes the 
inclusion of these statements al the more ironic by including pictures not of a female 
dancer, but instead of Yi Mae-bang, without including his name.  
 That salpuri begins as an expresion of han and ends with a release from it is 
not debatable, but the source of the dancer?s han is open to interpretation. The dance 
is often presented as the mourning of a widow (se for example Hahn Man-Young 
1976: 36), and when a woman performs it she wears white, the traditional color of 
                                                
26
 For more on han in the performing arts, se work by Heather Wiloughby on han in 
the performance of pansori (2000; 2002), Loken-Kim on han in the dance salpuri 
(1989), and Kilick on changgeuk (2001), who ?argues that the portrayal of han as 
central to p?ansori is a constructed ideal that is incongruous with a historical 
perspective on the genre? (Wiloughby 2002: 112). 
27
 Jeong Jae-man (

dE), another renowned male dancer, who was a student of Han 
Young-Sook, also dances, choreographs, and teaches salpuri. 
 
 132 
 
mourning in Korea.
28
 Yet a dancer can use events from her own life or imagination 
to conjure up the feling of han and make salpuri personaly meaningful.  
Gibangmu, Remembering Gisaeng 
 During much of its history, Korea had a system of profesional female 
entertainers who were educated and trained in the arts in order to entertain the royal 
court and provincial government officials. These women were caled gisaeng. Many 
traditional Korean dances are derived from dances performed by gisaeng, but the 
dance gibangmu in particular is explicitly meant to portray gisaeng. The name 
gibangmu comes from the word gibang (?? ), a later version of the word gyobang 
(?? ), the term for the government-appointed schools where gisaeng were trained 
until the Japanese colonial period (Pilzer 2006: 297). The gisaeng of the Goryeo and 
Joseon eras are remembered in a variety of ways, which lead alternately to either 
honor or stigmatization of the gisaeng legacy (se Pilzer 2006). 
 Most gisaeng were state slaves who came from hereditary outcaste clases 
(cheonmin L? ), while others were ?conscripted or sold from poor families? (Pilzer 
2006: 296). Daughters of gisaeng were destined to become gisaeng themselves, and 
as Loken-Kim points out, some daughters of shaman families were sent to be gisaeng 
(1989: 47).  
 In order to be appealing companions for men, gisaeng were educated in 
music, dance, poetry, caligraphy, and textile crafts (Pilzer 2006: 296). During the 
Joseon era, they were the only women to receive formal education and were also the 
                                                
28
 When salpuri is performed by a man, he wears baggy pants and a vest or light coat 
(Van Zile 2001: 16). 
 
 133 
 
only women who were fre to asociate with men. For these reasons, they are 
sometimes thought of today as representing ?a cultural hero or prototype of modern, 
independent womanhood? (Pilzer 2006: 307) for this era of Korean history. Yet they 
were viewed as both artists and women of loose morals, subverting neo-Confucian 
values. David McCann writes: 
Although the kisaeng?s formal training in etiquete, painting, singing, 
verse-writing, and other arts was an imitation of the training through 
which a male in Yi Korea became an official, repeated atempts to 
cleanse official society of these women indicate that the kisaeng were 
viewed as being subversive of proper decorum. (McCann 1983: 134) 
 
The ways in which gisaeng are thought of today are varied and even conflicting. 
Pilzer writes: 
The history of the vanished Korean female profesional entertainer 
known as gisaeng is riddled with ambiguities. These arise from the 
inherent social-structural ambiguity of Korean (and many other) 
traditional female entertainers who have operated outside of 
established morality but in a way that often reinforces the conventions 
they sem to subvert. The ideological contexts in which gisaeng are 
remembered are no les ambiguous: as symbols of national culture, as 
pre-modern symbols of the oppresion of women, and as early 
examples of emancipated females. Some scholars understand the 
gisaeng to have been a kind of sex worker or a prostitute, while many 
others insist that the gisaeng were entertainers, forbidden from seling 
their bodies, who only became involved in sex work under Japanese 
colonialism (1905-45). (Pilzer 2006: 295) 
 
 
 Loken-Kim (1989) and Pilzer (2006) point out that the diferent clases of 
gisaeng that once existed are today often lumped together in memory due to changes 
that occurred during the Japanese colonial period. In reality, for much of their history 
each of these clases lived in quite diferent circumstances, and their social positions 
and services changed considerably over time. Acording to Pilzer, during the Goryeo 
Dynasty (A.D. 918-1392), ?gisaeng were often selected as kings? concubines and 
 
 134 
 
given noble rank. But due to the neo-Confucian prescriptions of the Joseon Dynasty 
(1392-1910), the gisaeng lost much of this clas mobility and were demoted in status? 
(Pilzer 2006: 296).
29
 Pilzer explains that female entertainers of the ninetenth century 
were grouped into several diferent clases, and that only those of the highest clas 
were actualy refered to as ?gisaeng?: 
 Kwon Do He describes female performers of this time as 
divided into thre clases: entertainers atached to the court (gisaeng, 
yegi, ginyeo, or gwangi), private female entertainers (sampae) who 
performed for the aristocratic and middle clases, and itinerant group 
performers (sadangpae) who performed for commoners. The 
Hanyang (Seoul) court and other regional government centers trained 
gisaeng in government schools caled gyobang or gyobangcheong; and 
some gisaeng operated privately outside the confines of state circles. 
The sampae were entertainers and hosteses who sang japga (literaly 
?miscelaneous songs,? narative songs mostly sung seated) and sijo 
(aristocratic song poems) to entertain their customers, and unofficialy 
practiced prostitution. The troupes of itinerant female singers caled 
sadangpae that toured the country specialized in folk songs and 
standing dance songs (ipchang) and traded sex for money or goods. 
(Pilzer 2006: 296-297) 
 
Acording to this acount of clas diferences betwen female entertainers, 
state-employed gisaeng did not engage in prostitution and were in this and other 
respects quite diferent from the privately-operating sampae and sadangpae. During 
the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), however, the state-run gisaeng system was 
disbanded and gisaeng entered ?private gisaeng guild-run schools, which were 
oversen by the colonial government? (Pilzer 2006: 299): 
 There formerly state-employed female entertainers mixed with the 
private sampae, and the distinction betwen state and private gisaeng 
disappeared. ? Also, while this industry was upper clas, it was 
connected by bureaucracy to the system of licensed industrial 
                                                
29
 During parts of the Joseon period, neo-Confucianism even demanded separation of 
men and women in the court, necesitating the education of women in medicine and 
also in musical instruments formerly played by men (Pilzer 2006: 296). 
 
 135 
 
prostitution introduced by the Japanese. Gisaeng were registered and 
monitored by the colonial government much as prostitutes were, more 
and more high-ranking gisaeng were forced into sex work, and, 
acording to Pak Jeongae, the principle of ?sel one?s talent, not one?s 
body? gradualy fel away. In the Asia-Pacific War some gisaeng were 
even fed into the military sex industry, sent to the fronts to entertain 
Japanese officers and enlisted men, and many sem to have been 
forced into the military sexual slavery of the so-caled ?comfort 
women? system. (Pilzer 2006: 299) 
 
 Acording to this acount, it was because of the twentieth-century blurring of 
gisaeng entertainment and prostitution that much of the general population came to 
think of gisaeng of al historical periods as prostitutes. This built upon already-
existing discourse dating to the Joseon era which labeled gisaeng as imoral women 
who threatened Confucian values, even if it was only for their education and ability to 
socialize with men. 
In the 1960s, the South Korean government began a proces of canonizing 
Korean national culture, with one emphasis being on the traditional arts. Former 
gisaeng and other women who had been trained in gisaeng schools were elevated to 
teaching, research, and performing positions, but ?the women were now subjected to 
the new presures of national culturalism. For one, this meant unspoken injunctions 
to be discret about the gisaeng and the colonial past, the sexual franknes of folk 
music, and so on? (Pilzer 2006: 306). Pilzer writes: 
However much the institutions heading the canonization of national 
culture and the performers themselves sought to resurrect traditions of 
the late Joseon Dynasty fre of the taint of Japanese colonialism, 
modernity, or the aura of change, the colonial gisaeng legacy continues 
to exert a profound influence on that national canon. ?The place of 
the gisaeng in the oficial national-cultural story is strategicaly vague. 
The efort to preserve the cultural forms of the gisaeng has not been an 
efort to canonize the gisaeng legacy as a chapter in the history of 
Korean traditional arts, despite its centrality to traditional art practice. 
Several developments were byproducts of the social juncture and 
 
 136 
 
conceptual conflation of the gisaeng with sex workers: the gisaeng 
label disappeared from the public discourse on traditional arts, 
performers spoke of their former status as gisaeng reluctantly and with 
much ambivalence, and the historical gisaeng, while absorbed by the 
canons of national culture, disappeared from their discourses. (Pilzer 
2006: 306-307) 
 
 Acording to Pilzer, stigmas related to gisaeng have faded somewhat since the 
twentieth-century version of gisaeng entertainment died out several decades ago: 
 As ?gisaeng tourism? faded in the 1980s and popular 
consciousnes began to remember the historical separation of the 
gisaeng from the sex industry, performers spoke somewhat more 
openly about their teachers? pasts as gisaeng as pride in the tradition 
began to flourish. Despite the fact that most of the singers I have 
worked with are maried modern women, several of them consider 
their own inteligence, franknes, performative power, and emotions to 
be the inheritance of gisaeng legacies. Some performers and 
numerous other women told me that had they been born in the Joseon 
Dynasty, they would certainly have become gisaeng. For some, then, 
the gisaeng has become again not wholly a symbol of the oppresion 
of women but a cultural hero or prototype of modern, independent 
womanhood,? (Pilzer 2006: 307) 
 
  As in the case of shamanism, gisaeng are remembered in a variety of ways 
and a dancer?s understanding of gisaeng can have a profound impact on how she 
views Korean dance, and gibangmu in particular. In her study of the Hala Huhm 
Korean dance studio in Hawai?i, Van Zile found that stigmas related to gisaeng 
afected reception of Korean dance as a whole in Hawai?i: 
To many older Korean-Americans dance stil caries with it the stigma 
of the kisaeng established during the war years?the notion of a 
woman of loose morals whose dancing was only part of an evening?s 
entertainment. (Van Zile 2001: 230) 
 
 The Washington Korean Dance Company, on the other hand, openly emulates 
gisaeng in performances of the dance gibangmu. The image of gisaeng described in 
the studio?s introduction to the dance, however, is quite specific. The dance is 
 
 137 
 
introduced to the audience, through program notes or verbal introduction, as a dance 
portraying the ?high clas gisaeng (palace maiden entertainers) who were acustomed 
to palace culture and etiquete,? and who performed the dance for kings (Washington 
Korean Dance Company 2008). Here, the studio invokes the image of the high-clas 
gisaeng of the palace. In an interview, I asked Kim Seonsaengnim about stigmas 
related to gisaeng, describing Van Zile?s findings in Hawai?i. She semed surprised 
and described the gisaeng as having been separated into two types: those who were 
entertainers and those who were ?women of the night.? The dance gibangmu, she 
said, specificaly portrays the former and not the later (Kim Eun Soo 2008). 
 An individual?s understanding of gisaeng as a category depends on the 
discourse to which he or she has been exposed. Many students and profesionals in 
Korean traditional performing arts have had former gisaeng as teachers, or as teachers 
of teachers, creating an artistic genealogical bond and personal connection to these 
women. People in the general population, on the other hand, may be exposed to 
images of gisaeng primarily through popular culture, as gisaeng are included in many 
Korean period films and dramas. In most of these, gisaeng are not primary characters 
and their entertainment quarters function only as backdrops for occasional scenes. 
An exception, however is the very popular Korean drama Hwang Jin Yi, which sems 
to have had a significant efect on many people?s view of gisaeng by presenting 
gisaeng as fully-realized characters (2006).
30
   
                                                
30
 The word ?drama? is used, regardles of dramatic or comedic content, to indicate a 
television miniseries. Many are around sixten to twenty-four episodes long, but 
some number in the fifties, sixties, or higher. Korean dramas are very popular both 
within Korea and outside the country. 
 
 138 
 
 The drama Hwang Jin Yi takes place in the sixtenth century and presents a 
fictional imagining of the life of Hwang Jin Yi, a legendary gisaeng to whom famous 
poems are atributed but about whom nothing is known for certain.
31
 In this popular 
drama, Hwang Jin Yi enters a gyobang at a young age after being raised in a Buddhist 
temple, drawn to the beauty of Korean dance. The drama portrays her as a dance 
prodigy and shows her long-term study of both dance and geomungo as wel as her 
inteligence and wit in poetry.
32
  
 Throughout the drama, the arts and the gisaeng who practice them are revered. 
The utmost importance of the arts in the drama and the portrayal of Hwang Jin Yi and 
other gisaeng as fully-realized (and often tragic) characters gives new and more 
personalized images of gisaeng to the general viewership. At the same time, however, 
the drama portrays the gisaeng of both the palace and the provincial gyobang as 
having engaged in high-clas prostitution, although the character Hwang Jin Yi 
escapes this due to various plot twists and her exceptional talents as a dancer and 
musician. Thus, the drama retains this more ?shameful? aspect of the gisaeng image 
(contrary to the historical findings discussed earlier in this chapter) but 
simultaneously raises its female characters above it by making them fully-realized, 
often tragic heroines who live for their art.
 3
  
                                                
31
 The most famous poem atributed to Hwang Jin Yi is discussed by David R. 
McCann in his chapter ?Formal and Informal Korean Society: A Reading of Kisaeng 
Songs? (1983: 134-136). 
32
 The geomungo is a freted stringed instrument which is plucked with a wooden 
stick, usualy while seated on the floor.  It has a low sound and is an instrument 
asociated with scholars. In the drama, Hwang Jin Yi?s ability to play this instrument 
as a woman is considered exceptional.   
3
 This drama?s popularity is palpable even without formal study of its efects, 
although such a study would be very interesting. The costumes for the drama were 
 
 139 
 
 A dancer studying at the Washington Korean Dance Studio can potentialy 
draw from a wide range of discourse about gisaeng in order to find her own 
significance in dancing gibangmu and other dances. Many of the women at the studio 
regard gibangmu as one of the studio?s most beautiful dances, while a few may dance 
it reluctantly due to its asociation with gisaeng. In addition, salpuri, seungmu, and 
geommu were also once performed by gisaeng and many other dances are derived 
from gisaeng styles of dance. Thus, the very act of performing Korean dance as a 
woman may bring to mind the image of gisaeng, as Van Zile suggests it did in 
Hawai?i (2001: 230). The possibility of stigmatization, however, is countered by 
discourse that celebrates gisaeng as keepers of Korea?s traditional arts and as women 
who became artists and intelectuals despite their low clas background, transgresing 
the neo-Confucian mores of their time. This image of gisaeng can be a source of 
                                                                                                                                      
designed by Kim Hye-soon (?
? , Gim Hye-sun) who based them on traditional 
styles but used many non-traditional fabrics (Le Hyo-won 2007). The gisaeng style 
of hanbok used in this drama atracted a great deal of atention, with its skirt that fits 
tightly around the torso almost down to the waist instead of bilowing out from a 
higher point. Other characteristics of the style worn in the drama are the use of 
nontraditional paterned fabrics and the layering of a second skirt over the main skirt, 
often pulled upward so that it pufs out near the waist and leaves much of the main 
skirt visible below. The unique style of one of the drama?s most popular hanbok, with 
its white top (
w?; , jeogori) decorated with large red flowers, became very popular, 
as did music from the drama (for a photograph, se Le Hyo-won 2007). At the 9
th
 
Annual Korean Traditional Performing Arts Competition (
?9
% ?
?  ?	?  
?	?
% ) in New York City this year, a dance performance titled ?Hwang Jin-i-wa 
Halyangmu (

?
I	? ??? )/Hwang Jin Yi and Noble Men?s Dance? was given 
by the winner of the previous year?s competition surrounded by a group of female 
dancers dresed as men. The dancer portraying Hwang Jin Yi wore a version of the 
red flower jeogori from the drama. A version of this dres is also on display for sale 
at one of the hanbok shops in Annandale. A participant in a music and dance 
competition in Maryland also wore a version of this dres while performing on the 
gayageum during a Lunar New Year celebration in January 2009.  
 
 
 
 140 
 
inspiration to women, and especialy to women studying Korean traditional 
performing arts who can construct intelectual and emotional bonds to their own 
imagined versions of gisaeng through performance.  
  
Women of Jeolla-do 
Namdo Minyo and Pansori 
 The final group of women discussed in this chapter are the women of Jeolla 
(
y? ), the southwestern region of Korea. Although it was once a single province 
caled Jeolla-do, it now consists of North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces. The 
Jeolla region is famous as the source of many of Korea?s folk arts and especialy for 
pansori, as many of Korea?s great pansori singers came from there. It continues to be 
a home of pansori connoiseurs. At the same time, however, Jeolla represents the 
opposite of the ?sophisticated? urban culture of Seoul, and the dialects of the southern 
parts of Korea are stigmatized as the Seoul dialect remains highly prefered.
34
  
 The text of pansori and namdo minyo reflects the dialect of Jeolla-do. At the 
same time, the strong, husky vocal style might be thought of as reflecting the 
robustnes for which people of this region are reputed. Delicate femininity is not an 
aim in the vocal style of pansori and namdo minyo, and the aspiring singer of these 
genres must shed delicacy in order to achieve the right sound and expresivity. To 
women living under current social presures to be feminine, the sound of pansori and 
                                                
34
 One pansori enthusiast suggested that I study someday with a teacher from the 
Jeolla region but emphasized that I must not pick up her dialect. 
 
 141 
 
namdo minyo, and the feling of performing these genres, can be liberating in itself.
35
 
Furthermore, performing these genres can also make the singer fel connected to her 
own image of the women of Jeolla-do. Whether these women are sen as 
empowering role models or as crude and backward country folk of the past depends 
on the point of view of the individual.   
 Texts of some songs also refer to Jeolla-do, such as the song ?Ieodo Sana? 
(
I	?(  ?a ), which is about the women divers of Jeju Island. These women are 
famous for their ability to dive in the ocean to astonishing depths without diving 
equipment in search of abalone and other seafood. The women of Jeju Island are also 
famous for being the breadwinners of their families while their husbands raise the 
children, a rare counterexample to the division of labor in the rest of Korea and in 
most of the world. 
 The fact that pansori was once an exclusively male genre of performance adds 
another layer of gendered meaning to performing pansori (se Chan E. Park 2003: 
214-232). Although women have been wel established in pansori from more than 
one hundred years, a student of pansori may find significance in the fact that it was 
once a male genre. Chan E. Park takes interest in how the vocal technique and 
performing style of female pansori singers emulates the male originators of the genre, 
                                                
35
 One young woman who majored in traditional performing arts in Korea before 
coming to the United States told me that her low, slightly husky voice was always a 
problem for her in Korea, where many young women speak in higher, purposefully 
young-sounding, cute voices. She fels more comfortable in the United States, she 
said, where young women generaly talk in a les girlish style and her vocal quality 
does not stand out. On the other hand, many women of older generations in Korea 
speak in low, gruff voices, reflecting changes in expected performance of femininity 
as women age and also generational changes in women?s behavior (se Cho 2002 on 
generational changes in the performance of femininity in Korea). 
 
 142 
 
who in turn are generaly believed to have based the genre on the singing of female 
shamans (Chan E. Park 2003: 214-232). Through performance, pansori students at 
the WKDC studio can imagine themselves as a part of a community with others who 
have performed pansori in the past?both men and women. Through the genealogy 
of our teacher, we can also connect with a certain subgroup of singers, as we come 
from one school and not from another, a diferentiation that can further strengthen a 
sense of identity. 
Ganggangsullae  
 In the WKDC studio?s recent performance at the John F. Kennedy Center, one 
of the most popular performances was the tenagers? performance of ganggangsullae 
(JJ?? , sometimes writen (and pronounced) as JJ?
? , ganggangsuwollae). 
Although this thesis generaly does not cover the tenagers? dance clases, this 
particular dance is so significant and relevant to this chapter that I would be remis if 
I did not mention it. The dance performed by the WKDC tenagers is a staged, 
choreographed portrayal of a custom of women in Jeolla-do who would gather at 
night during the harvest time to sing songs and dance. The dancing is most famous as 
a circle dance which begins slowly and increases in speed, but other dance formations 
are involved as wel. The genre of songs acompanying this dance is refered to as 
ganggangsullae and is an exclusively women?s genre. In its original context, it was a 
time for women to sing and dance in an al-female seting. Keith Howard relates an 
anecdote from an interview ith Cho Kongnye (
??? , Jo Gong-nye), an Intangible 
Cultural Property holder for rice cultivation songs (Property 51), who was born 
around May 1925: 
 
 143 
 
 When I was twelve and the sixth full moon came around, 
women gathered together to sing and dance Kanggangsullae. I asked 
if I could sing with them. My mother agred, but my father objected: 
?A woman?s place is to be hidden in the house,? he said. I ignored him 
and went. The women danced around singing song after song. They 
clapped their hands, they jumped up and down, and they joined hands 
and snaked around following each other. (Howard 2006: 88) 
 
 Today, ganggangsullae is performed on stages and in group celebrations 
around the time of Chuseok (v? , a harvest holiday during which families gather). 
The version that is performed today, however, is the result of a reworking and 
formalization of the genre by Bak Byeongcheon (??L ) (b. 1933) in 1972 (Howard 
2006: 106). Howard explains:  
 Pak?s exact role in restructuring the rice cultivation songs is 
les clear than with Kanggangsullae. For the later, he was paid by the 
Chindo [
?( , Jindo] administration to work with islanders on the 
northeast, but he prepared himself by working with Cho Kongnye and 
other women in Inji, since as a woman?s genre it had formerly been 
performed in secret outside the ambit of men. Before this time, we 
know from the bureau?s report writen by Im Tonggw?n [
P2
, Im 
Dong-won] in 1964 that Kanggangsullae had sections in fre rhythm, 
used improvised texts that imparted flexible stanza lengths and 
incorporated a mix of dance steps. . . . Pak, in an unusualy frank 
acount, in February 1984 told me his version of what had happened: 
 
Kanggangsullae used to be performed by women to the 
light of the ful moon and could go on for a very long 
time. I reorganized it totaly diferently to create a 
formal genre lasting 30 minutes. In the old days, the 
women had started, stopped, played, joked, sung and so 
on. They sang what they felt like singing. If I included 
everything as it had been, then I could not make 
Kanggangsullae beautiful for the 1972 National Folk 
Arts Contest. So I cut it back to the basic songs, adding 
percussion instruments so that everybody would walk 
in step. The steps hadn?t been fixed, but I made them 
regular, basing them on wel-known Korean dance 
steps. Kanggangsullae didn?t follow any rhythmic 
cycles before, but I introduced them, making the whole 
thing strict and measured. In reality, then, 
 
 144 
 
Kanggangsullae as it is now performed is my 
composition. Someday, perhaps people wil research 
the old performance style and reinstate it. But, what we 
now perform is a profesional work, taking elements 
from the tradition to show its beauty. 
 
 The percussion instruments, in the past the domain of men, 
were soon dropped, leaving the song once again unacompanied. 
(Howard 2006: 107) 
 
 The version of ganggangsullae performed by the tenagers of the WKDC 
studio is not the full thirty-minute rendition described above but rather a shortened 
version choreographed for the stage. In the performance at the John F. Kennedy 
Center on November 7, 2009, the backdrop on the stage was lit dark purple, with a 
yelow-orange spotlight as the full harvest moon. The WKDC?s version of the dance 
begins with one of the dancers from the profesional company leading two young 
girls by the hand to gaze at the moon. After leading the children offstage, the 
profesional dancer enters the stage again, leading by the hand a line of about twenty 
tenage girls who step in time slowly to the music, tilting their heads to the right and 
left in time with the step. The girls wear white jeogori (the top part of hanbok) and 
either red or blue skirts, with the skirt colors alternating in the line. As the last girls 
in line enter the stage, the line curves around into a semicircle. On a musical cue, the 
girls? steps increase in speed to double-time, and on another musical cue they begin 
skipping quickly and close the circle.  
 There are many sections to this dance and many diferent steps, not al of 
which are performed in a circle. At one point, the girls stand in a line and bend 
forward at the waist to hold onto each others? skirts, gathering closely to form a 
bridge with their backs. One of the girls then walks across the backs of the others, 
 
 145 
 
with an asistant on either side to hold her hands and pull her skirt away from her 
fet. As the girl progreses along the bridge, the girls whose backs she has stepped on 
sway back and forth behind her. This part of the dance is caled ?treading on roof 
tiles.? After the girl descends, the profesional dancer in the front rises from her 
bent-over position and leads the stil bent-over line of girls in a snaking patern 
around the stage, waving her arms to the music. She eventualy closes the circle, 
creating a tight circle in which al the girls are bent over and holding onto each 
others? skirts. The girls then lunge toward the middle of the circle as they step on 
their left fet (the inside foot in the circle), and return to neutral as they step on their 
right fet, causing the circle to contract and expand. This section of the dance is 
caled ?catching a mouse.? (To se these and other sections of ganggangsullae, se 
the UNESCO documentary video ?Ganggangsullae,? listed in the videography.) 
 The WKDC version of ganggangsullae is performed to a recording of 
women?s voices acompanied by drumming. The women?s voices are robust, 
sometimes singing slowly and at other times singing quickly in jajinmori or hwimori. 
The speed of steps in the choreography corresponds with the music, fast and vigorous 
at some times and slow at others. Near the end of the song, during a slow vocal solo 
in fre rhythm on the word ?ganggangsullae,? the girls stand in a large circle facing 
outward and perform slow, semingly meditative movements. First they slowly lean 
backward to look up slightly and return to a neutral position. Next they rise slightly 
on the bals of their fet while lifting their arms out to the sides a litle, and gently 
descend to the floor with heads down. As the voices of the other women in the 
recording join the soloist, the girls look upward, rise up slightly, and descend again. 
 
 146 
 
The tempo of the music suddenly quickens and the drumming resumes as the girls 
quickly rise, grab hands, and dance in a circle again for the quick climax of the 
performance. 
 This is a particularly popular dance among audiences. Although its 
movements are relatively simple, the vigorousnes of the dance, the contrast betwen 
fast and slow sections, and the innovative and varied choreography are striking. 
Particularly important in the efect of the dance are the powerful, husky voices of the 
women in the musical recording. The efect of a group of Korean-American tenage 
girls dancing together to the these women?s voices is very striking.  
 Knowledge of this dance?s background further enhances the significance of 
the dance, as a girl dancing it might imagine herself to be one of the women of Jeolla-
do, temporarily ignoring the conventions of society to enjoy dancing together. She 
may also fel that she is memorializing or paying tribute to these women and their 
traditions. Removed one step further, she may memorialize through her dancing the 
other dancers who have staged this dance, placing herself in the community of 
women who have performed it on the stage. 
Grace, Strength, and Gender: The Potential for Korean Dance and Pansori to 
Open Up New Performative Possibilities on Stage and in Life 
 While the thre dances discussed in the beginning of this chapter (seungmu, 
salpuri, and gibangmu) are relatively slow, restrained, and internaly focused, coming 
across as deeply contemplative or spiritual, the most vigorous dances in the WKDC 
studio?s repertoire?sogo chum, sam buk chum, and o buk chum?are quite diferent 
in mood. In al thre, the dancers play drums, smile, and are outwardly focused, 
 
 147 
 
clearly aiming to entertain the audience and not focused on deep internal emotions or 
ideas. These dances are not particularly tied to history, spirituality, or the expresion 
of personal sentiments as they are more oriented toward entertainment. However, 
they can stil have an efect on the identity of the woman who learns and performs 
them, as she is able to imagine herself in new ays. 
 Al thre of these dances (and other dances as wel) are characterized by a 
balance of strength and grace. Sogo chum includes large movements and stylistic 
elements derived from folk dance, such as an emphasis on shoulder movement from 
the breath. The hand-held drum used in this dance is smal and not particularly loud, 
but the percussive act of striking it contrasts with the use of flowing sleves or 
scarves in seungmu, salpuri, and gibangmu. The drumming in sam buk chum and o 
buk chum is very loud and deep in pitch, which can be exciting for both the performer 
and the audience. To be in a line of women playing drums and creating that 
thunderous sound can be quite thriling.  
 At the same time, al thre of these dances are to be performed with grace. 
When profesional dancers perform sam buk chum and o buk chum, the efect is a 
very traditionaly ?feminine? one; the performers of these dances are usualy young, 
with slight frames, and they smile and perform everything with seming ease and 
grace, moving in perfect synchrony. In the adult beginner and advanced community 
clases at the WKDC studio, whose members are enthusiasts but not profesionals, 
the strength and stamina used in these dances is more noticeable. Without the studied 
delicatenes of the profesional dancer to mask the efort required by the drumming, 
the women in these clases appear strong when they play. In these clases, the power 
 
 148 
 
of playing drums is not masked by wel-rehearsed smiles for the audience, but rather 
shows on their faces, as does their determination and drive. These dances continue to 
be favorites among members of the dance clases, and they are also audience 
favorites when the WKDC?s profesional team performs. In a rehearsal I observed of 
the profesional company, one of the older women proclaimed ?Halmeoni (?`? , 
grandmother) power!? after finishing o buk chum.  
 These dances alow women to expres themselves in ways that are coded as 
feminine and beautiful (gracefulnes, flowing movements, and lightnes), combined 
with elements that are strong (using leg strength, performing large movements 
quickly, striking objects, and creating loud sounds). Through learning these dances, a 
woman acquires both skils that are beautiful and ?feminine? and skils that run 
counter to common views of femininity by emphasizing strength and loud sounds. 
 As discussed earlier in this chapter, producing loud sounds is also part of 
singing namdo minyo and pansori. The act of singing in the robust, decidedly 
?unfeminine? style of pansori and namdo minyo can be empowering to women 
because it alows them to imagine their own performative possibilities diferently as 
their voices increase in strength, volume, and roughnes.  
 Furthermore, gender-crossing is a part of the narative repertoire of pansori, 
as the singer must portray both male and female roles. Although the group clases at 
the WKDC studio have almost exclusively studied namdo minyo and are just 
beginning to learn pieces of the narative pansori repertoire, Pansori Seonsaengnim?s 
private students and I frequently portray characters of the opposite sex in our pansori 
excerpts. Pansori Seonsaengnim?s two main private students, a fourten-year-old girl 
 
 149 
 
and her eleven-year-old brother, sometimes perform an excerpt from the Song of 
Heungbo together. In these performances, the girl sings the role of a cruel older 
brother and the boy the role a victimized younger brother. The casting is efective not 
only because of their real-life ages but also because of the girl?s powerful, husky 
voice and strong temperament and the boy?s swetnes of voice and character. His 
strength in pansori performance is his aniri (spoken sections), during which his 
portrayal of the female characters is particularly efective because his swetnes 
comes out in their lines. His sister?s strength in performance is her strong, rough 
voice, which drowns out everyone else?s when we sing together. In the section of the 
Song of Chunhyang that I usualy perform, I mostly portray men in the sung sections 
and switch betwen the characters Bangja (a male servant), Chunhyang (a fiften year 
old girl), and Hyangdan (her female servant) during the extended spoken pasage. 
The opportunity to portray both male and female characters is one of the aspects of 
pansori that I appreciate most, as I could never hope to play male roles in most other 
performing genres. This aspect of pansori in particular can be liberating to the 
performer, male or female. Whereas many performing genres require strict adherence 
to the stereotypes of the performer?s gender, pansori gives the performer the 
opportunity to perform a wide range of genders, even though each of the characters 
may be portrayed in normatively gendered ways.
36
 
                                                
36
 In several performances lately, the private students and members of the group 
pansori clases at the WKDC studio have performed dresed in the traditional 
clothing of male scholars instead of in women?s dres. Pansori Seonsaengnim 
remained in women?s dres in al of these performances, however, and led the group 
with her voice and the sori buk (drum). I have not yet discerned the reason for our 
costuming; Pansori Seonsaengnim has suggested that it looks ?cool.? This may have 
 
 150 
 
 Korean dance, pansori, and namdo minyo have the potential to empower their 
performers because they require the development of new habits such as graceful 
movement; quick, percussive movement; and singing loudly without regard for 
?feminine? vocal aesthetics. These habits are required and nurtured in the studio and 
may trickle into other parts of life, either unconsciously or consciously, as a result of 
the individual?s recognizing her ability to perform them. The result is a wider range 
of performative options in daily life, which can cause the individual to se herself in 
new ays. A dance participant?s newly-acquired grace may cause her to se herself 
as more feminine and atractive than she did before. On the other hand, her newly-
acquired strength and her new ability to produce thunderous sounds on the drums and 
to perform vigorous choreographies may cause her to se herself as more physicaly 
strong than she did before. A pansori student may se herself as having a stronger 
voice than she realized and may become les afraid to open her mouth wide and make 
unflatering facial expresions. Chan E. Park quotes famous pansori singer Ahn 
Suks?n (	??? , An Suk-seon): ?It is so important to put strength in your abdomen 
and open your mouth realy wide, even at the expense of showing the inside of your 
mouth, uvula and al. . . . When a woman opens her mouth so wide, to the point 
where a huge vein stands out on her neck . . . I used to be realy ashamed, you know, 
but I conquered that? (Park 2002: 229).   
 These changes can afect not only the way a woman in the studio views 
herself, but also how she interacts with other people outside the studio. As she gains 
confidence in her abilities, she may interact more confidently with those around 
                                                                                                                                      
also been influenced  by cost and the greater ease of matching these costumes with 
each other. 
 
 151 
 
her. How this afects particular relationships varies with the individual, and to 
examine this among members of the studio would require an interview project beyond 
the scope of this thesis; the women come from such a variety of backgrounds that it is 
impossible to make generalizations in this area.  
 Just as the women at the WKDC studio come from a wide range of culturaly 
hybrid backgrounds, their ideas of normative gendered performance may difer 
acording to many factors, including their age, time of imigration to the United 
States, and experiences in the United States. As Cho Haejoang explains, historical 
factors in Korea have produced very diferent gender norms in diferent generations 
(2002). The age of an individual and the time that she left Korea, among other 
factors, may afect her idea of ?normal? gendered behavior for a Korean woman.  
 Even within one generation of women, the time of imigration to the United 
States is a major factor that can produce widely diferent ideas of what it means to be 
a Korean woman. Some members of the WKDC?s adult clases, for example, come 
from the generation of women whom Cho labels the ?daughter?s generation? and 
describes as having grown up with ?self-realization? in mind (2002: 179). This was 
the generation of the Nationalist-Democratic Movement and the women?s liberation 
movement in the 1980s. It is also the generation of women who later largely gave up 
their carer ambitions to become housewives, while cultivating an image that was 
much more ?feminine? than women of previous generations. Because Korean women 
of this generation underwent such changes, at what point a woman of this generation 
imigrated to the United States could have an imense efect on the view of 
femininity that she brought with her to the United States. A woman of this generation 
 
 152 
 
who came to the United States before Korea?s neoconservative turn, for example, 
might have continued on a carer path in the United States while other women of her 
generation in Korea gave up their carer ambitions. Besides age and time of 
imigration, a woman?s clas, job, family situation, and personal experiences in 
Korea and the U.S. are additional variables which can afect her ideas of normative 
gendered behavior. 
 Because each individual at the studio is afected by so many factors, it is 
impossible to generalize specific ways in which the studio afects gendered self-
image and performance of its members; further study of this isue would require more 
particular study of individuals and their lives outside the studio and would involve a 
large interview project.  
 At present, I asert only that the arts practiced at the studio encourage the 
development of habits which may not already be part of the individual?s repertoire of 
daily performance. They may open up new ays of performing, not only in the 
studio and on stage, but also in daily life. 
Conclusion 
 Existing discourse and remembered histories of these dances and songs shape 
current thoughts about what they are supposed to mean and what kind of person one 
is emulating when one performs them. At the same time, however, participants are 
aware that the dances and songs are theatrical representations of traditions and people 
from the past; performing gibangmu does not make one a gisaeng, one need not be 
Buddhist to perform seungmu, and one can live in an urban apartment and stil sing 
 
 153 
 
namdo minyo and pansori. These are today considered art forms and Korean cultural 
treasures, officialy designated as important to Korean national culture and identity.  
 As a result, a participant in the WKDC studio can choose to identify with 
some parts of a dance?s or song?s history and not with others. She may identify with 
salpuri?s commonly-believed asociation with shamanism, using the dance to fel a 
connection with that specific part of Korean national identity, perhaps valuing it as a 
women-dominated sphere or as Korea?s indigenous belief system. On the other hand, 
she may choose to ignore the asociation with shamanism and dance salpuri as a 
lament for lost love or as a general expresion of han whose source may come from 
her life or her imagination. Seungmu, similarly, can be connected with Buddhism, 
shamanism, or a general sense of spirituality. In gibangmu, the dancer is certainly 
representing a gisaeng, but exactly who that portrayed gisaeng is, what she does, and 
how her profesion is evaluated depends upon the individual. Namdo minyo, pansori, 
and ganggangsullae can connect the performer with Korea?s folk traditions and the 
women of Jeolla-do. While ganggangsullae comes specificaly from women?s 
practices, pansori was originaly a genre for men, and each of these origins can have 
an efect on how the individual learner finds significance in performing these genres.  
 By studying and performing these genres of dance and song, an individual can 
construct emotional and intelectual bonds with these groups of people. The way in 
which she imagines herself in relation to them can take on a number of forms.  
 First, just as an actor must use her imagination to pretend to be the character 
she emulates in performance, a woman dancing at the WKDC studio may imagine 
herself to be a gisaeng during gibangmu, a widow during salpuri, or a woman of 
 
 154 
 
Jeolla-do during ganggangsullae. This sems to be the case for Kim Seonsaengnim 
and at least some of the other women at the studio. The following excerpt comes 
from my interview ith Kim Seonsaengnim: 
Lauren Ash-Morgan: Do you think about certain things while you are dancing? 
Kim Eun Soo:  Yeah! We have to! 
LAM: Like what, what do you think about? 
KES:  Like when we dance gibangmu?we are not gisaeng, but when we dance we  
 think, ?I am gisaeng.? 
Another woman: Yeah. Pretending [KES: Yeah.] we are gisaeng. 
KES: Like salpuri ? we think we got a lot of han. We cannot just dance like that; 
 we have to ? at the same time we have to think too.? 
        (Kim Eun Soo 2008) 
 
 Imagining oneself to be a character, or bringing up certain emotions either 
from one?s life or from one?s imagination, can improve the performance, as the 
expresion of sentiments is so important in the dances. Within the studio clases, 
where there is no audience and the women dance for their own enjoyment, imagining 
oneself to be someone else or somewhere else can heighten the personal experience 
of dancing or singing. Robert C. Provine cals this kind of imagining ?imagined 
context,? a term which I find very useful in labeling this phenomenon (personal 
communication, 30 October 2009).
37
 Csikszentmihalyi notes that imagining oneself 
to be someone else or to be in a diferent time or place can produce a state of altered 
consciousnes which can increase the feling of ?optimal experience? or ?flow? 
(1990: 73-74). 
                                                
37
 Another ?imagined context? which may occur at the WKDC studio is imagining 
oneself to be performing for an audience, even when one is actualy performing only 
for a miror. Although the adult beginner and advanced clases do not perform often, 
the biennial studio recital can serve as a real performance that participants can both 
remember and look forward to during practice sesions at the studio.  
 
 
 155 
 
 On the other hand, the performer?s mind may stay firmly fixed in the actual 
context of the studio or performance space. Yet in this mindset too, there is the 
potential for connection with other remembered people, as the performer may 
consciously memorialize them through performance. This is another way in which a 
woman at the WKDC studio can fel a connection with other people of the past, as 
she may pay tribute to the legacies of gisaeng, shamanism, Buddhism, or traditions of 
Jeolla-do through performance.   
 Finaly, each dance or piece of music is not connected only to the person 
performing it and to its original (real or mythical) origins; as it is pased on from 
teacher to student over several generations, it becomes a part of each dancer?s life and 
its style may reflect the unique qualities of various teachers in its genealogy. As a 
result, a performance of salpuri, for example, memorializes not only the imagined 
widow character that the dancer may be emulating, or the concept of shamanism, but 
also the other teachers and dancers who have danced it. The person who 
choreographed the dance is especialy significant. As mentioned earlier in this thesis, 
the salpuri studied in the WKDC studio?s adult beginner clas was choreographed by 
Han Young-Sook as a going away present for Kim Seonsaengnim when Kim 
Seonsaengnim left Korea. As a result, this dance has special significance and is only 
to be performed by Kim Seonsaengnim. This and other dances choreographed by 
Han Young-Sook, as wel as the general style that we learn from Kim Seonsaengnim, 
connects our studio with Han Young-Sook and her grandfather, Han Seong-jun. This 
may make participants in the studio fel that they share a smal part of these dancers? 
legacies. 
 
 156 
 
 Al of these ways of mentaly connecting oneself with others can contribute to 
an increasingly complex and layered ?individual self-identity? that is ?integrated 
with,? or ?sutured to,? many diferent groups of (real or imagined) people (Rice 2007: 
21; Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 41). The proces of ?creating a sense of belonging to 
prexisting social groups? is described by Timothy Rice as one way of ?authoring the 
self? and developing ?individual self-identity? (2007: 23). Csikszentmihalyi writes of 
a similar proces, of becoming more ?integrated? with others, which he says can be 
one result of ?flow? experiences.  He describes this as one half of a dual proces that 
makes a person more ?complex.? The other half is the proces of becoming a more 
extraordinary individual who is ?diferentiated? from others by possesing unique 
skils (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 41). This is related to the proces of ?creating a sense 
of self-understanding and self-worth? described by Rice as another proces of 
?authoring the self? (Rice 2007: 23). Although in his concept of becoming more 
?integrated? with others Csikszentmihalyi sems to be considering only the bonds 
that form betwen people who share an activity in the same time and place, I extend 
this concept to bonds formed with (real or imagined) people who share an activity but 
are divided by time or space.  
 Csikszentmihalyi approaches these ideas from the starting point of the ?flow? 
experience. He suggests that continualy chalenging oneself over a period of time is 
satisfying not only during times of ?optimal experience? but also in the long term, as 
one naturaly becomes a more ?complex? individual (1990: 41). He argues that by 
developing increasing skils and experiencing ?flow,? one becomes more complex by 
 
 157 
 
becoming both more unique, or ?diferentiated? from others, and more ?integrated? 
with other people: 
Feling a flow experience, the organization of the self is more complex 
than it had been before. It is by becoming increasingly complex that 
the self might be said to grow. Complexity is the result of two broad 
psychological proceses: diferentiation and integration. 
Diferentiation implies a movement toward uniquenes, toward 
separating oneself from others. Integration refers to its opposite: a 
union with other people, with ideas and entities beyond the self. A 
complex self is one that succeds in combining these opposite 
tendencies. 
 The self becomes more diferentiated as a result of flow 
because overcoming chalenge inevitably leaves a person feling more 
capable, more skiled . . . after each episode of flow a person becomes 
more of a unique individual, les predictable, possesed of rarer skils. 
. . . 
 Flow helps to integrate the self because in that state of deep 
concentration consciousnes is unusualy wel ordered. Thoughts, 
intentions, felings, and al the senses are focused on the same goal. 
Experience is in harmony. And when the flow experience is over, one 
fels more ?together? than before, not only internaly but also with 
respect to other people and to the world in general. (1990: 41) 
  
 Chapter 3 of this thesis focused on the ability of Korean dance and 
pansori/namdo minyo to foster new skils in the dancer or singer, which is an example 
of the proces of ?diferentiation? described by Csikszentmihalyi, a proces of 
becoming a more skiled and extraordinary individual. At the same time, the WKDC 
studio presents opportunities to become more ?integrated? with many groups of 
people. As discussed in Chapter 2, the women at the WKDC studio connect with 
each other and form a community through face to face interaction. As this chapter 
demonstrates, however, they can also create mental connections through performance 
to a wide range of people from the past and present. In these cases, connections form 
with other (real or imagined) people (of the present or past) at an intelectual level, 
 
 158 
 
and these connections are usualy one-sided, existing in the mind of the individual 
learner or performer who is aware of those who came before her. However, as 
students who study Korean performing arts create mental connections to the same 
people of the past or present, they share common ground, which increases the 
potential for bonding betwen these students. When al of these bonds are examined 
collectively, they form an ?imagined community? of people connected to each other 
emotionaly and intelectualy, who share common knowledge and practices even if 
they do not al know each other personaly (Anderson 1983).  
 Whereas the term ?imagined community? is often used to deconstruct a 
semingly real and unquestioned community, I use the term not to diminish the bonds 
which can potentialy form through performance, but instead to demonstrate and 
celebrate the power of interpersonal bonds that exist at an intelectual level alone (i.e. 
not through face-to-face contact). As the individual creates intelectual and emotional 
bonds with others, her identity becomes more integrated with others as she counts 
herself a part of these groups of people. The simultaneous proces of becoming an 
increasingly extraordinary individual and becoming more connected to others can 
create a sense of identity that is increasingly complex as the sense of self becomes 
both stronger through increased awarenes of one?s own unique abilities and more 
diversified, belonging to many diferent groups of people. Studying at the 
Washington Korean Dance Company studio is about more than a generalized Korean 
identity; its arts invite the learner to construct an identity that is increasingly complex.  
 
 159 
 
Chapter 5: Conclusion 
  
Future Directions of Study 
   
 There is a great deal to be studied about both the WKDC studio and the wider 
Korean community of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.  Kim Seonsaengnim 
plans to expand the studio to create a more comprehensive Korean Performing Arts 
Center, and I believe that this studio is historicaly significant and ought to be 
documented. I am especialy interested in doing further interviews with the studio?s 
teachers and participants in order to explore the significance of the studio in their 
lives further. I would also like to document the performing styles of the studio?s 
teachers. The fact that they trained in Korea at diferent times, and came to the 
United States at diferent times, presents interesting questions as to how their styles 
might reflect Korean dance styles at diferent points in time. Kim Seonsaengnim, for 
example, left Korea in the 1970s, partway through the dance carer of Han Young-
Sook, whose style continued to change over time.  Many of the dances performed at 
the studio are Kim Seonsaengnim?s choreographies, while a few others were 
choreographed by Han Young-sook. These dances ought to be documented and 
preserved.  
 There are many Korean dance and music studios in the United States, and I 
am aware of specific ones in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. metropolitan areas and 
New York City. These would be interesting subjects of study and comparison. In 
Korea, too, there are community-oriented traditional performing arts clases, and I am 
 
 160 
 
curious about how their practices and the experiences of the participants compare 
with those at the WKDC studio.  
 The Korean community of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area hosts a 
wide variety of performing arts-related groups. The Washington Kayo (>
 , gayo) 
Charity Asociation (WKCA), of which I have been a member since October 2008, 
performs popular twentieth-century songs, mostly of the teuroteu (_?_ ) genre. 
Most of the group?s performances take place at events for local Korean senior 
citizens? asociations, and members of these groups also participate by selecting and 
performing songs. The WKCA also mets each month at restaurants or members? 
houses to have dinner and sing Korean songs. During our performances, I have had 
the opportunity to observe the enthusiasm of many Korean people here for these 
songs, and in particular the songs of Le Mija (
I?
W , Yi Mi-ja). This is a topic I 
find especialy interesting and would like to explore further. It was originaly a part 
of this thesis but had to be cut as I narowed my focus to the Washington Korean 
Dance Company studio. 
 Another topic which I had to cut from y original concept of this thesis is the 
popularity of current Korean popular music (K-pop) among many people in the 
Korean diasporic community. Many people of Korean descent here keep up to date 
with popular music in Korea, primarily through the internet but also through means 
such as newspapers, tabloids, and rented videotapes of Korean television programs. 
Local Korean busineses play recent pop songs as background music, and many 
people here are familiar with lyrics and dance moves asociated with current popular 
 
 161 
 
songs. Singing at noraebang or on one?s home noraebang system also continues to 
be a popular pastime.   
 Two other areas of study were originaly part of my concept for this thesis but 
had to be cut as its focus narowed. The first is the popularity of b-boying 
(breakdancing) as a symbol of Korean youth identity in both Korea and the U.S. The 
second is a study of Korean cultural events held in the Washington D.C. metropolitan 
area, the biggest of which is the thre-day KORUS Festival held in Annandale every 
year. This festival is organized by the Korean Embasy?s KORUS House and 
includes performances by local acts and ones imported from Korea. Each year, a 
famous Korean b-boy crew serves as the main atraction. The festival draws large 
crowds every year and includes many performances, song contests, and vendors 
seling food and other items. I hope to write about this in the future.  
Thesis Sumary 
 This thesis has endeavored to convey the experience of studying Korean 
dance and pansori at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio, examining the 
experience at a number of levels of interaction: interactions with the studio space and 
other members of the studio community (Chapter 2), interactions with the physical 
chalenges of these arts (Chapter 3), and interactions with discourse about histories 
and meanings of these arts as wel as with (real or imagined) people of the past and 
present (Chapter 4). Each of these interactions has its own rewards for the participant 
and can have potentialy powerful efects on her sense of identity by making her both 
more aware of her unique abilities and more integrated with other groups of people. 
 
 162 
 
 That a Korean dance studio in the United States can give participants a sense 
of Korean identity is an obvious (though important) point. This thesis has sought to 
go beyond looking at the studio as a place for finding a generalized Korean identity, 
however, revealing other facets of identity that can be nurtured at the studio.  
 First, this thesis established the importance of the Korean community which 
exists outside the studio, and how the concentration of Korean busineses and people 
in this area makes it possible for individuals to maintain a wide range of hybrid 
balances betwen Korean habits and habits adopted in the United States. This thesis 
also embraced Zheng?s (1993) idea of the diasporic community as a third space 
existing in a tertiary relationship with the original homeland and the host country. 
Although the ?Korean community? is to large to be connected through face to face 
contact, such a community exists as an entity largely due to local Korean newspapers 
and other media in addition to extensive networks of personal acquaintances.   
 This thesis discussed the WKDC studio as a ?Korean space,? a place where 
Korean habits are dominant in practices such as language and social interaction. 
However, the studio remains a hybrid place situated in a diasporic context, not an 
exact replica of a place in Korea, as the reality that one is living in the United States 
is always present. Both the dominance of Korean habits in the studio and the subject 
mater taught there can contribute to a sense of connection with Korea. At the same 
time, belonging to the studio?s community can add another layer to the individual 
participant?s identity. Chapter 2 described practices at the studio and how they 
contribute to its strong sense of community. 
 
 163 
 
 Chapter 3 examined the individual participant?s interaction with the physical 
chalenges presented by the arts themselves. The chalenges inherent in Korea dance 
are not necesarily obvious to those unfamiliar with the dance because of the dance?s 
emphasis on expresing internal states such as meot and heung rather than on overt 
athleticism. Yet this more internal element of the dance makes it chalenging, not 
only mentaly but physicaly as wel, since it requires that the dancer generate a great 
deal of energy from within while controlling that energy externaly. In addition, the 
breath control and muscular control required of these dances is more physicaly 
chalenging than it might sem. As the dancer progreses, she may find her body 
developing new physical stamina and control, making new and more chalenging 
goals possible. This is also the case with pansori and namdo minyo, as the voice 
changes over time and enables the singer to reach for increasingly higher goals. In 
this chapter, I explained how these chalenges can lead to a sense of happines and 
intense satisfaction by explaining Csikszentmihalyi?s theory of ?optimal experience? 
or ?flow? and suggesting that the arts practiced at the studio create an ideal 
environment for the creation of flow experiences. 
 In Chapter 4, I examined how one?s ideas about the histories and meanings of 
arts performed at the studio can heighten the experience of studying there and deepen 
the long-term significance of studying Korean performing arts in the individual?s life. 
I presented the varied, and sometimes conflicting, strains of discourse about the 
dances seungmu and salpuri, and about shamans, gisaeng, and women of the Jeolla 
region. Some of these strains of discourse are celebratory of these groups of women, 
while others stigmatize them. An individual?s interpretation of a song?s or dance?s 
 
 164 
 
significance can depend upon which strains of discourse she has heard and which she 
chooses to believe.  
 The presence of these various histories and meanings makes the proces of 
learning Korean dance, pansori, and namdo minyo potentialy more rewarding, 
alowing the learner of these arts to connect emotionaly and intelectualy not just to 
a general idea of Korean identity but also to subgroups of women within Korean 
culture. Because of the range of discourse regarding these subgroups and art forms, 
the individual can potentialy construct a version of the dance?s interpretation that is 
meaningful to her by embracing some of these strains of discourse and ignoring 
others. In some cases, however, stigmas about groups such as gisaeng or shamans 
can lead individuals to fel uncomfortable performing genres connected to these 
traditions or alowing their children to (Van Zile 2001: 231).  
 Finaly, the end of Chapter 4 tied together al chapters of this thesis by 
returning to the topic of identity, focusing on the studio?s potential to enrich 
participants? sense of ?individual self-identity? (Rice 2007: 21). The topic of identity 
had first appeared in Chapter 2, which discussed two diferent kinds of identity 
supported by the WKDC studio. The first is the studio?s potential to strengthen an 
individual?s sense of Korean identity, both because it is a ?Korean space? and 
because it teaches Korean performing arts. The second kind of identity identified in 
Chapter 2 is the individual participant?s sense of belonging to the studio community. 
While a sense of general Korean identity might be thought of as linking the individual 
to an ?imagined community,? the WKDC studio community is a very real, face to 
 
 165 
 
face community and is actively maintained through practices such as communal 
eating and chating before, after, and betwen dances and songs (Anderson 1983). 
 In Chapter 4?s return to the topic of identity, I examined how an individual?s 
perception of the dances? and songs? meanings and histories has the potential to foster 
intelectual and emotional bonds betwen the individual and diferent groups of 
people of the past and present. Through performance, an individual may se herself 
as joining the legacy of these groups (shamans, gisaeng, women of the Jeolla region, 
and dancers and pansori singers of the past and present). She may imagine herself to 
be one of these people, performing in an ?imagined context? (Provine 2009), or she 
may remain firmly rooted in the real context of the studio or performance space while 
paying tribute to these people and traditions. In either case, she creates an intelectual 
and emotional bond to their legacy, joining an ?imagined community? of others who 
share similar bonds (Anderson 1983). 
 In al of these cases of identity formation, the individual?s sense of identity is 
strengthened by becoming more connected with other people, either through face to 
face contact or through the creation of intelectual and emotional bonds with an 
?imagined community.? The individual thus becomes more ?integrated? with other 
(real or imagined) people through performance (Csikszentmihalyi 1990: 41).  
 At the same time, identity is strengthened through the very individual proces 
of grappling with the chalenges of learning these art forms and seting new 
chalenges for oneself. By acquiring new knowledge and skils, a participant in the 
studio becomes increasingly extraordinary and unique, a proces Csikszentmihalyi 
refers to as ?diferentiation? (1990: 41). These new skils make it possible for her to 
 
 166 
 
set new goals for the future and imagine herself in new ays. Gender crossing in 
pansori and the combination of elements coded as ?masculine? and ?feminine? in 
namdo minyo, pansori, and Korean dance also alow the individual, male or female, 
to se new possibilities of self expresion that might previously have been outside the 
boundaries of aceptable gender performance (Butler 1990). This, too, makes the 
individual a more extraordinary person with new skils and abilities.  
 The simultaneous proces of becoming more unique and extraordinary and 
becoming more integrated with others is what Csikszentmihalyi describes as a 
proces of becoming a more ?complex? self (1990: 41). Using diferent terms, 
Timothy Rice refers to both of these proceses as ways of ?authoring of the self? in 
the formation of ?individual self-identity? (2007: 23). Through these proceses, 
individuals at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio are able to explore not 
only a generalized Korean identity, but also a complex range of layered identities and 
a deeper sense of self. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 167 
 
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 180 
 
Videography  
(alphabetized by topic, then title) 
 
Buchae Chum (?Fan Dance?) 
?Buchaechum? http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=mEXDj4gCLPU&NR=1 
 
?Buchaechum (solo)? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bNbPibgtQ&feature=related 
 
?Korea dance with fans? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=8jToM9HhH6w&playnext_from=PL&feat
ure=PlayList&p=F042B3909C534B65&playnext=1&index=4 
 
?Puchaechum (Fan Dance) - Korea House? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=rz7sGaUhDuQ&feature=related 
 
??Traditional? Korean Fan Dance - Buchaechum ;z ? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=hiFT5mOpPTQ&feature=related 
 
Court dance 
?Beautiful Korean traditional court dance!? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=NH77MsD9Fs4&feature=related 
 
Ganggangsulae 
?Chuseok Celebration Performance at NCKTPA-Ganggangsullae(1)? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=QrCJvn91JQw&feature=related 
 
?Chuseok Celebration Performance at NCKTPA-Ganggangsullae(2)? [Staged 
performance; includes ?treading on rooftiles.?] 
?http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=noMcr_pQQlc&feature=related  
 
?chuseok fullmoon welcome dance ganggangsullae? [Staged performance; includes 
?treading on rooftiles.?] 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=zgmT6WHqac0&NR=1 
 
 ?Ganggangsullae? [Short documentary from UNESCO TV.] 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=6D73WBzEG4&feature=related 
 
?
?(JJ?? 
m
?@?

? ? (?Jindo Ganggangsullae ? National Dance 
Company?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34892
276&categid=31003303&page=15 
 
 
 
 
 
 181 
 
Gyobang Gutgeorichum 
?korean traditional dance ??	? 
z
K
D
??? b;z ? [Performed by Kim Su-
ak.] http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=2jG3GgGIiDg&feature=related 
 
Hallyangmu 
?Halyangmu(?
?)? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=BW91yQYIkXM&feature=related 
 
?Korean Traditional Dance ?HanRyangMoo?? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=gTURCNQJ9sY&feature=related 
 
Hanbok Style Made Popular by the Drama Hwang Jin Yi 
?	??? (Yeoryeongmu)? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=8hthi0g7TOw&feature=related 
 
Hwang Jin Yi (Television Drama) Dance Excerpts 
?Hwang Jin Yi Farewel Dance? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Kawy9wPngBo&feature=related 
 
 ?Hwang Jiny for her love? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=fVvflqY8ya0&feature=related 
 
 ?Hwangjiny Geommu(h? ) : A dynamic sword dance! - 1 ? ? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=cGeC5vrIyDY&feature=related 
 
?Hwangjiny Geommu(h? ) : A dynamic sword dance! - 2 ? ? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9wO3Xi0rk&feature=related 
 
?Hwangjiny Geommu(h? ) : A dynamic sword dance! ? 3? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn5C1cTfWIU&feature=related 
 
Janggu Chum 
?Korean Dance? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=XzN_54U2mYg&feature=related 
 
Salpuri 
?Ardhyana?s Site? (Blog). http:/ardhyana.multiply.com/video/item/1 
 
?Danse cor?enne Salpuri - Sale Pleyel 2006 / ? ?
Iz ? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=PDYIB5FSW8U&feature=related?
?
?(??
I ? (?Do Salpuri?) [Performed by Yang Gil-sun (	??? 
] 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&skey=%EC%
96%91%EA%B8%B8%EC%88%9C&prgid=34598454 
?
 
 182 
 
?(??
I ??
W ? (?Do Salpuri ? Kim Suk-ja?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&skey=%EA%
B9%80%EC%88%99%EC%9E%90&prgid=34844607 
 
?(??
I ??
W ? (?Do Salpuri ? Kim Suk-ja?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&skey=%EA%
B9%80%EC%88%99%EC%9E%90&prgid=34830158 
 
?korean traditional dance? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=aYnvt1bmnW4&feature=related 
 
?Salpuri? [Performed by Yi Mae-bang] 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=ev6GXqAcvG0 
 
?Salpuri(??
I ) 2? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=zN67BW1CrFQ&feature=related 
 
?Salpuri(??
I ) 3? [Performed by Kim Ok-seong, ?	?? ] 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=3hUk_3UWxhU&feature=related 
 
?Salpuri(exorcism dance)? http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=0-
aOjdKA_JI&feature=related 
 
???
I 
m
?	?? ? (?Salpuri ? Han Yeong-suk?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34893
826&categid=al&page=16?
 
???
I 
m
?	?? ? (?Salpuri ? Han Yeong-suk?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34893
826&categid=al&page=13 
 
???
I 
m

IR? ? (?Salpuri ? Yi Mae-bang?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&skey=%EA%
B9%80%EC%88%99%EC%9E%90&prgid=34893221 
 
???
I 
m

IR? ? (?Salpuri ? Yi Mae-bang?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34893
463&categid=31003303&page=14 
 
???
I 
m
??	? ? (Salpuri ? Kim Su-ak) 
htp:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&skey=%EA%
B9%80%EC%88%99%EC%9E%90&prgid=34891886 
 
 
 183 
 
Sam buk chum (?Thre-Drum Dance?) 
?Amazing Lady Drummers from Korea? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=y1vPdRGKTIc&feature=related 
 
?Korean Drumming? http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=WJheaVcMT-4&NR=1 
 
?Samgo-Mu (Korean Drum Dance)? http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=hmiCI_cW-
60 
 
?Samgomu (Thre Drums dance) - Korea House? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=y_at86nHMjA&feature=related 
 
Seungmu 
?Korea Traditional Dance.? 
http:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=7XkYS5qo4gQ&NR=1 
 
?Seungmu(
?
?).? htp:/ww.youtube.com/watch?v=kXIRAMNYmX0 
 
?	%? 

?	?? 



dE

?
d
^ ? (?Seungmu ? Han Yeong-suk, Jeong Jae-man, 
Bak Jae-hui?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34893
792&categid=al 
 
?	%? 
m

IR? ? (?Seungmu ? Yi Mae-bang?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34891
590&categid=31003303&page=15 
 
?	%? 
m


dE? (Seungmu ? Jeong Jae-man) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ref=google&redirect=prg&ch_us
erid=av1000&prgid=32854223&categid= 
 
Taepyeongmu 
??? 
m?	?? ? (?Taepyeongmu ? Han Yeong-suk?) 
http:/channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=av1000&prgid=34893
730&categid=31003303&page=14 
?