• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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• no.48
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• pp.359-384
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to explore the theatrical aesthetics of the performances which was produced by the theater director, Yang Jung-Ung. Yang has been one of the most influential directors working in Korea in the last 15 years. He has put up performances all over the world with the theater members from his company called Yohangza, which was founded by him in 1997, and working as the director, portrayed his style of the theatrical aesthetics through the works of its plays and musical products. In 2012, this company performed A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. A Midsummer Night's Dream was invited to be staged at the Barbican Center in 2006. In the same year, it received the grand prize and the Audience Choice award at the Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival in Poland. The musical products like A Good Woman from Seoul and the modern Opera Wozeck are representative works of Yohangza, which are known for a unique way of exploring the meaning of life. The 2009 plays Hamlet and Peer Gynt represent Yohangza's simpler yet more insightful theatrical style. Peer Gynt, which debuted at the LG Art Center, made headlines for its innovative staging. It received the grand prix, Best Director and Best Stage Art awards at the 2009 Korea Theater Awards. Yohangza's plays show two-side "image-based" works. The company drastically reduced verbal lines and enriched the plays with Korean sentiment and aesthetics, but their scripts contained many poetic lines full of overtones. They showed a theatrical mise-en-scene of images, energetic dance, songs in chorus and percussion. For example, Korean sentiments were subtly blended into the two Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Nights. Their performance combines music, mime, song and dance to create an exhilarating adaptation of Shakespeare's inventive and glittering comedy. In addition, the style of Yohangza Theatre Company is a collision of the past and the present: a reworking of existing Korean styles and themes infused with contemporary elements and full of unique exploration in the plays.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.44-57
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• 2019

As dance performances in the theater space are centered on text, they have plots and make characters stand out. They also emphasize expressivity and technique, and their recognition of space is very modern and typical of dichotomous Cartesian thinking. The museum space has many similarities with the theater space in that it is a result of modernity and granted authority to present arts. The performances in museums place value more on the presence than on the representation. For this reason, works in museums, which are frequently presented in recent years, are mainly works of site-specific or performative concepts. Now, rather than being able to obtain from aesthetics defined as works, the museum is assured its own aesthetic production and justification, paying attention to the performance as an event occurring now and here.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.36
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• pp.239-262
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• 1998

The pursuit of freedom by the individual--desire to be liberated from all forms of restrictions-- is one of the defining character-istic of the modern society. As costume is, in part, a product of the spirit of the times, it was only natural that this desire for freedom would find its expression in modern costume as well. Among various forms of restrictions, differentiaton by sex has placed one of the most significant binding influences on individual behavior. From early times, the dichotomous division by sex was incorporated into the disign of costume, and the traditional differestriction of costume by sex imposed a significant restriction on the background,“the modern androhynous look”was born as a by-product of the sexual liberation movement in the second half of the 20th century, based on the concept of the individual as a complete human being rather than as a member exclusively of either the male or the female sex. This paper seeks to examine the androgynous look within a coherent theoretical frame-work, and explore new design possibilities by analyzing and understanding the visual characteristics of the androgynous look. In addition, this paper seeks to define the functional aspects of the androgynous look based on the premise that costume is an embodiment of the spirit of the times. As for research methodology, both theoretical and historical methods are employed. Through a theoretical examination of historical documents, the meaning of the androgynous look is explored from various angles, and order to examine its place in modern fashion, an-drogynous styles are categorized and system atically analyzed. The main findings of the paper can be summarized as follows : 1. Androgyny is a compound word consisting of“andro-”(meaning man) and“gyn-”(meaning woman). In modern times, this word has been associated with the socio-cultural aspect of gender rather than the physical or physiological aspect with the pshchological characteristics of the male and female sexes. Androgynous styles also appear in fashion and general arts such as drama, film, dance, and music. In fashion, the androgynous look, represented by the visual superimposition of “masculine”and “faminine”elements, has emerged as a major element of the 20th-century costume, and has gained broad acceptance among those free spirits wishing to be liberated from the conventional conceptions of male clothing, and the unisex look. 3. The androgynous look in modern fashion reflects the spirit of the 20th century society and culture, and performs various functions as follows : expression of fun, change in gender roles, expression of the inner consciousness, and pursuit of the ideal human type.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.19
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• pp.347-378
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• 2009

Those who were from Jaeincheon and Jaein line entertainers played great roles during transition period from traditional society to modern society, and even at present the dances of them are the representative traditional dances of Korea and the matrix of Korean originality. Nevertheless, Korea dance field has given little importance to these dances, but too much importance to Gibang dance in studying traditional dances, which causes the studies on Jaein line danced to be superficial or separate. Therefore, the aims of this article are to analyze the dances of Jaein line by Han Seong-jun, who was representative for the dances, and to appraise the historical value of them. Han Seong-jun(1874-1942) was the most influential dummer and dancer of his day in Japanese colonial times, and has been recognized as one of the masters of traditional dances. He established autonomy of traditional dances by reorganizing, collecting and stage-formalizing the dances, and systemized transmitting ways for various folk dances including a Buddhist dance, which made it possiblefor those dances to be traditional dances of Korea and the bases for creative dances. The values of Jaein line dances, which were transmitted through Han, are the following: First, the dances have been designated as national or regional intangible cultural assets, and, as the representative traditional arts, we proudly show them to the world. Second, the dances, as one of the genres of Korean dances, are the subjects of younger scholars' studies. Third, the dances become one of the representative examples of revivals of traditional dances, which tend to be extinct during modernization times, and contribute to establishing national identity and subjectivity. In addition, they contribute to discovering and transmitting other traditional dances. Fourth, the dances enable many dancers to make association, that is, Association for Preservation of Traditional Dances,for the transmitting the dances, and to distribute the dances and get many dancers to transmit the dances. Furthermore, as new performance repertories, they give another pleasure to the audience. In addition to the above, as a base for expansion of Korean creative dances, Han's dances have other values such as the following: First, in searching for a new methodology for creation, he played an important role in rediscovering the foundation in the tradition, and tried to discover nationalidentity by employing the traditional dances for expression of theme. Second, he contributed to drastically dissolving the genres by expanding the gesture language from motion factors of traditional dances, which can be compared to the modern dance. Third, he tried new challenging approaches to re-create the tradition, and contributed to pursuing the simple elements of our traditional dances as traditional aesthetics. While the dances of Jaein line have such values as the above, there are also some problems around the dances, such as the confusion in the process of transmission resulted from different transmission forms and transmitters, which we must no longer leave as it is. Furthermore, it is urgent that the rest of Jaein line dances be recovered and designated as intangible cultural assets for the sound transmission of the traditional dances.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.18
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• pp.413-444
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• 2009

This paper is an analysis of stage and performance elements for the ceremonial procedures and dance featured in bongsudang-jinchan, a feast celebrating the 60th birthday of Hyegyeong-gung Hongssi (Crown Princess Hong of Hyegyeonggung), the mother of King Jeongjo, which took place in Hwaseong haegung palace in 1795. The primary sources used are data on bongsudangjinchan recorded in Wonhaeng-eulmyojeongriuigwe, Jeongjo-sillok, Hongjae-jeonseo, pictorial sources such as Folding Screens of Hwaseong-neunghaeng and Hwaseong Ilgi, which is a journal in Korean by Yi Hui-pyeong. A court ceremony to offer music, dance, flowers, and food, as well as wine and poetry which express the sentiments of chung (fidelity) and hyo (filial piety) was considered a national ceremony and has constituted a unique musical culture during the 500 years of Joseon dynasty. However, after the fall of Joseon dynasty, ceremonial music and dance, which have been organically linked within the overall symbolic system of ye (courtesy), became scattered to become independent 'pieces.' As a result, all of their philosophy, principles, and the time-space interpretation of court music and dance became greatly reduced, leaving only the artistic expression and formal structure of the music and dance to become emphasized. Since the 1990s, there has been many research and events aiming to re-create the court ceremonial tradition, resulting in the increase of the related performance activities. This is especially true with bongsudang-jinchan, which is now being performed on modern stage in various forms. However there are still many problems to be solved, such as the issue of re-creating and restoring the original, and the question of artistic value found in the traditional pieces. Until now, much focus has been paid to the outer re-construction of uiju document as recorded in Wonhaeng-eulmyo-jeongriuigwe. On the other hand, there lacked an in-depth study which analyzes the stage situation and performance elements. Therefore in this paper, after focusing on the stage structure and performance elements, it is concluded that bongsudang-jinchan, the only court feast to be held in Haeng gung, not only consists of the fundamental aspects of court performance principle as 'governing through ye and ak (music),' but also served as an important occasion to bring together the sovereign and the subject. Bongsudang-jinchan had features of both naeyeon (feast for ladies) and oeyeon (feast for gentlemen). It minimized the use of screens and allowed every guest to enjoy food, music, and dance together, but provided a separate tent for foreign guests, maintaining the ideal balance between equality and distinction among different gender and social status. A screen symbolizing the venue for the feast is placed for all of the government officials. The king then pronounces the beginning of the banquet in which the ideal of gunsin-dongyeon (king and officials dining together) is realized. This indicates that bongsudang-jinchan, compared to other court ceremonies that emphasize the principle of yeak (courtesy and music), focuses more on the spirit of harmony and rapprochement. The king played a more active role in bongsudang-jinchan than in any other royal feasts. Examples as recorded in uiju documents are; Jeongjo's conversation with his retainers after the 7th wine, king's bestowing of food and flowers to the officials, writing his own majesty's poems with regard to the festival, and asking the retainers to write replying poems. All these played an important part in making the occasion more rich, extensive, and meaningful. Moreover, as analysis of the structure of orchestral music and court dance featured in bongsudang-jinchan shows, it was like any other court banquet in that it employed minimal use of extravagance in movements and conversation. However, the colors and tonal texture used in the music and dance were more brilliant in this case. Compared to other banquets that took place before king Jeongjo, the dance style was more diverse, which included some of the latest additions. There were past performances arranged anew. Noteworthy are; the incorporation of "Seonyurak (Boat Dance)" and "Geommu (Sword Dance)," traditionally used for local officials and civilians feast, to suit the court taste; and the use of saenghwang (mouth organ), which was a rising instrument in pungnyubang (literati's private salon), for "Hakmu (Cranes Dance)." This especially indicates the nature of the 'open structure' pursued by the court banquets at the time, which strove to break away from the traditional rules and customs and accept something new.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.126-141
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the works of choreographer Philippe $Decoufl{\acute{e}}$ and the performance costumes designer Philippe Guillotel, and identify the intrinsic values shown in the formative characteristics in their works. And it proposes a vision and a direction for the development and performance of modern fashion phenomenon of media convergence performing arts complex. The results were as follows. First, the performance characteristics shown in Philippe $Decoufl{\acute{e}}$'s art pattern applies dynamic improvisation, decategorization reflected in the media interactivity, time and space of a variable scalability, complex artistic genres and transcends cultural boundaries. Second, the characteristics of the performance costume can be described as a co-existence between dynamics of aesthetic layers, 'Media body' represented by the interaction of the compounds with the technology, and integrated variable expandability. And aesthetic values inherent in the performance costumes are summarized as abstraction, playfulness, reproducibility, and theatricality. Modern fashion performance and limited production of the center 'costumes' in the fashion images can be used in diverse ways, and innovative marketing has gone through a change in image production. Metaphysical text of the advanced performance genre can be presented in a new perspective to fashion derivatives 'Media body'. And the aesthetics of popular culture kitsch, the grotesque, and surrealism in theater will produce creative stage direction.

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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• no.48
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• pp.421-446
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to shed light onto the historical significance and limitations of the Tsukiji Little Theater's modern performances. The Tsukiji Little Theater holds a position of great importance to the history of both Japanese and Korean modern theater. Some, however, are under the completely opposite impression. There are also mixed opinions about whether the Tsukiji Little Theater is a "model example" of the modern theatrical movement or a "bad example". Based on this controversy, we look into the definitive characteristics of the Tsukiji Little Theater based mostly on "the controversy over translated foreign plays", "the controversy of foreign plays versus original plays", "the value of kabuki" and "Shinpa as a rival". This paper looked into the differences in controversy over translated foreign plays in the Tsukiji Little Theater and the controversy in existing translated foreign plays. It mostly looks at the "casuistry of foreign plays" and the "cultural engineering theory of foreign plays"to get a grasp on the controversy surrounding existing translated foreign plays. Meanwhile, the "internally critical meaning" towards the original plays of renowned writers was strong in the controversy of foreign plays in the Tsukiji Little Theater. Kaoru Osanai defined the 1920s as a dark period, and persisted that because of the activity of the Shingeki movement, foreign plays were needed instead of low-level original plays. This study examines the characteristics of original plays and foreign plays publicly performed at the Tsukiji Little Theater to analyze the "controversy of translated foreign plays versus original plays". The Tsukiji Little Theater mostly put on shows with a strong sense of resistance or that defied the old times. This caused there to be a lot of emphasis put on the rebellious mindset towards old conventions and ideologies for most of the plays, both foreign and original, and the problem arises that little mind was paid to the integrity or beauty of the works. In looking at the "value of kabuki", this paper looked into Kaoru Osanai, who was deeply involved in kabuki actors. He evaluated traditional Japanese arts highly not because of the literary value of their scripts, but because he recognized the value of how they were performed. In order to create a new spectacle, music, dance and mime was taken in from countries around the world, and kabuki was regarded highly as a means of expression on stage. Finally, we also examine the recognized reasons for treating Shinpa as a rival. There is a relationship between these reasons and a complex about the audiences they drew. The Shinpa performances always had many spectators and were successful, but those at the Tsukiji Little Theater were so unpopular with the public that it was hard for them to financially run their theater group. The empty seats in their theater constantly made the modern intellectuals in the Shingeki movement feel inferior.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.47
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• pp.125-142
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• 1999

Dancing along with mankind has existed in various ways form old age to the present. This dancing combined with artistic meaning is called the art of dancing. This study is mainly about the functions decorations and expressions of dancing costume and the claracteristics of the costumes by the 20th century designers Leon bakst Oskar Schlemer Pablo Picasso. The dancing costume were not so much different from those of the public from old age to middle age. In 18th and 19th centuries the length of the cotstumes become short from the knee to the thigh. The functions have much to do with the development of dancing for example the appearance of toeshoes. The costumes are designed not to prevent the movements of dancers smooth line in old age and ladylike vend high-blown line in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cotton and hemp textiles are turning into the transparent forms such as lace and gauge. The personal ornaments earings and necklaces have change into the pattern with wings and tassels. The dancing costumes of Leon Bakst Oskar Schlemer and Pablo Picasso are designed after the due consideration of body shape. Bakst focused on the beauty of smooth lines with splendid colors and decorations. Schlemer analyzed the body abstractly and metaphysically and expressed it with detaile and simple lines. Picasso emphasized cubic forms with cubism and expressed the characteristics of costumes with clear colors and smooth curved line. Bakst Schlemer and Picasso made the early 20th century the age of functional dancing costumes putting a light on the concept of space and foundation for the modern dancing costumes.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.28
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• pp.37-53
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• 2012

This paper examines 'an active nihilism' in Suk-je Sung's novels in detail. The focus of this study is formed from the critical mind in a critical perspective that in Korean novels before and after 2000s, characters who embody 'problematic individuals' of $Luk{\acute{a}}cs$ have disappeared and those close to 'active nihilists' has become the mainstream. The most representative example of this phenomenon is Suk-je Sung's novels. 'Active nihilists' in his novels are described as 'ascetics' who mastered various spheres such as 'billiard', 'baduk gambling', 'alcohol', 'dance', and 'book collecting', and so on. In the sense that they reject the transcendental conditions of the modern world and live in the space and time of play in which they can display their passion and potentiality to the maximum, they beings jumping over the 'reality principle'. Also, what they want to repeat is not the endless exchange of labor and capital according to the capitalist system of exchange but rather the repeated existence of their power and passion. This 'anthropology of power and passion' is 'active nihilism' which could be expressed as the 'subject of creating new value' and 'Dionysian affirmation' by Nietzsche. Suk-je Sung's novels sharply prove the stylistic essence of 'a novel' which has to create its own form every time, constantly renewing the narrative style of the past ideal model. In this respect, they are very problematic and his innovation of a form draws the attention. Further, this will certainly be the important object of research in the diachronic dimension of contemporary Korean novel.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.40
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• pp.71-109
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• 2020

Nihonbuyo(日本舞踊), a typical traditional Japanese dance, began with kabuki dancing and formed many schools, and was managed by Iemoto system. Iemoto(家元) is the head family of a school of a traditional Japanese art. Iemoto(家元) existed after the establishment of the ancient family system, and it was established as a system during the modern feudal period. Especially in Nihon Buyo, the Iemoto system has developed greatly since the modern era. Iemoto System has has contributed greatly to the succession of traditional arts and has been considered one of the characteristics of Japanese society. Basically, Iemoto system considers it the best authority to pass on the skills of excellent teachers without any distortion. It has various forms depending on the field and the school, but it is an organization with a family structure similar to that of a family with Iemoto at the top. In this article, I examined the establishment and background of the Nihonbuyo and considered the succession of the fame and authority of Iemoto through the system of succession. There are so many schools in the Nihonbuyo world that it is said to be a school kingdom. These schools were divided into kabuki actors, choreographers, female entertainers, ChiutaMai dance(地唄舞) and new dance styles, and the aspect of the Iemoto system was examined through the background and characteristics of each school. While Iemoto system has a positive aspect of inheriting the tradition, there are also many negative criticisms in the art world, such as rigid organizational management, the products of feudal society, the power of Iemoto, and the stalemate of arts. Nevertheless, in a Japanese society that places importance on tradition, the landlady system will not disappear easily. In fact, today, when there are many different art genres in common, young dancers are starting to challenge themselves along with self-examination of Iemoto in order to make the best use of traditional art. We hope that through consideration of the Japanese housekeeping system, it will become a place where intangible cultural properties will be re-acknowledged.