전통무용 용어 등장의 배경과 특징 -1950, 60년대를 중심으로-

Abstract

This paper studies the background and characteristics of traditional Korean dance, with a focus on the origins of the term “traditional dance” in the context of the traditional concepts that were used in the early twentieth century and developed in the 1950s and 1960s. The original concept of tradition encompassed not only customs, systems, and lineages passed down across generations but also the meaning of inheritance and transmission over time. However, from the 1920s, it came to refer to something uniquely Korean in contrast to imported foreign cultures. Tradition refers to a concept that encompasses unique ideas, customs, religions, production activities, and arts that were formed and transmitted in Korea before modern times. After the Korean War, the concept of tradition was invoked to establish a sense of history and explore spiritual roots for the reconstruction of the nation. In the 1950s and 1960s, the discourse on tradition discussed concepts such as discontinuity, absence, succession, and overcoming. Tradition emerged as an important thesis and the term was extended to the broader realm of culture, creating new terms such as traditional culture and traditional arts. One can draw important features of tradition theory and discourse that developed in the 1950s and 1960s. First, the period from 1910, when the Japanese colonial rule began, was set as the lower limit of tradition. Culture before that period was considered to have pure Korean tradition, but after that, it was not. Second, the direction was set to excavate and inherit folklore-centered tradition. It emphasized the core of tradition to be the figures, texts, and art forms of the common people in the late Joseon dynasty who tried to overcome the limitations of the ruling class society. This direction was reflected not only in academia and the arts but also in the initial designation of intangible cultural properties. Against the backdrop of the national interest in the tradition theory and discource, the term “traditional dance” began to be used in the late 1960s, and in the 1970s, it was used in various fields such as dance performers, dance research institutes, performances, government agencies, media, schools, and research. At the time, the prominent dance theorist, Jeong Byeong-ho, defined traditional dance as a heritage of the Korean people that absorbed and reflected the national spirit. This perspective was more limited to the past than the contemporary, and it was in line with the tradition discourse of the 1950s and 1960s, which set 1910 as the lower limit of tradition and fixed the concept of tradition.