한국 대중춤의 개념 정립을 위한 일고찰

Abstract

This study aims to characterize the meanings and properties of popular dance in Korea. Attention to the dance breathing together with ‘I’ within the current daily life, i.e. the popular dance that incessantly embodies active utterances within society and exists in the popular life will present a possibility to extend the horizon of the present and future texts of dance. The Korean popular dance, as a set of practices that have made sense in daily life, has given shape to the current dance culture, and moved vividly within the life surrounding us. When taking a look at the aspects of dance in the daily life experienced by the general public, one can define the universal phenomena of dance related to sociocultural properties of Korea and their meanings. This study is an attempt at re-writing the scholarship of dance by trying to study popular dance in connection with the discourses found within the sociocultural context and finding out meanings overlooked in dance scholarship. This study emphasizes that it is necessary (1) to extend the horizon of the scholarship of dance by establishing the concept and category of ‘popular dance,’ which have been classified as a regretted object in the scholarship of dance, (2) to examine the properties of the Korean popular dance by understanding aspects of changes in and characteristics of popular dance in Korean society, and (3) to promote the social influence and status that dance has by examining the features of popular dance past and present. Above all, in attempting at systemizing popular dance, this paper has tried, along with the previous studies in Korea, to establish the concept of popular dance in conjunction with the philosophical, aesthetic, and sociocultural discourses. There are three noticeable tendencies in the previous studies related to popular dance in Korea. First, the concept of popular dance has not been established and the meanings of ‘social dance,’ ‘life dance,’ ‘life-long dance,’ ‘popular dance,’ and ‘popularization’ has been confusingly or reiteratively used. Common to these concepts is the fact that dance is understood as ‘a cultural activity for everyone who willingly participates’ in practical areas where he/she recognizes social values. Thus, all of these concepts are those that can be involved in the discussion of popular dance. Second, the previous studies have classified the types of popular dance on the basis of practical ‘purposes of dance’related mainly with social life, entertainment, health, and hobby as well as leisure. Most of the types of dance discussed include those related to several media as well as sports dance, disco, jazz dance, and hiphop/break dance etc. Popular dance, contributing to the creation of the contemporary dominant culture, would be one of the types of dance that have been socially addressed and discussed most frequently. Thus, this study has proceeded after classifying popular dance into a type of dance that has been most frequently addressed in connection with media. Third, the previous studies have examined the tendencies of the scholarship of dance in Korea as well as the background of the advent of the concept of ‘popularization’ of dance since the 90s. This study has explored the meaning of ‘popularization’of dance to the effect that the name of ‘popularization’ of dance reflects the fact that Korean society has changed into the enjoyer-oriented culture and suggests the possibility of study of popular dance. The fact reflects the characteristics of Korean dance culture that discussion about ‘artistic dance’ and ‘popular dance’ in the scholarship of dance in Korea. Thus, this study has developed research on popular dance while highlighting the relationship between the two types of dance.