Dancer Yoon Jonghyun Presents 'Myeongga Wolryun,' Reconstructing the Essence of Seoul Dance

by Kim Heeyun

Published 03 Aug.2022 14:09(KST)

Traditional dancer Yoon Jong-hyun presenting 'Myeongga Wolryun'. Photo by Seoul Gyeonggi Dance Research Association

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Seoul-Gyeonggi Dance Research Association, which inherits and reexamines traditional dance, announced on the 3rd that it will hold the performance "Yoon Jonghyun's First Dance: Myeongga Wolryun 明嘉月輪" on the 13th.

The Seoul-Gyeonggi Dance Research Association is an artistic group formed in 2021 by dancers who gathered to inherit traditional dances derived and developed in the Seoul-Gyeonggi region. This performance will be held on the 13th at the Daloreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea.

Previously, the Seoul-Gyeonggi Dance Research Association held a series of performances to trace the lineage of traditional dances passed down from the Seoul-Gyeonggi area, continuing the dance lineage from Han Seongjun, Myeongga Kang Sunyoung, to Wolryun Jo Heungdong. Through this Myeongga Wolryun performance, they plan to stage not just presentations of inherited dances, but mainly works whose transmission activities have been weak or interrupted.

As Yoon Jonghyun’s first teacher, the late Korean dancer Kang Sunyoung planted the roots of his dance, and Yoon expressed his gratitude by restoring and recreating his teacher’s dances in this work. In this performance, he reinterprets and presents dances such as "Twelve Myeonudo," "Bara Dance," and "Mudang Dance," which his teacher performed.

Yoon Jonghyun explained, "The Kang Sunyoung-style Seungmu presented this time is a dance inherited based on the dance movements learned from teacher Han Seongjun, symbolizing human inner conflict and the will to overcome, and I have restructured it." He added, "The second program of the performance, Wonwangsaeng - the last scene of the shaman’s dance, ‘Wonwangsaengga, Wonwangsaengmu,’ is a tribute dance and a deep prayer dedicated to my teacher."