The God of Earth comes up Imperfectly

How were Korean traditional dance and singing before they came on the Western-style theater stage?

To answer the previous question, Yeong Ran Suh, a dancer and choreographer, and Eunsil Noh, a pansori ( traditional single opera) singer, traveled to several provinces in South Korea and interviewed the masters or pupils of deceased masters who practiced dance and singing before modernization and the adoption of the intangible cultural asset policy.

Dance and singing, captured in the memories of those who experienced them during colonialism and modernization in Korea, carry the scent of wilderness.

The traditional dance did not pursue a fixed, rigid form. Instead, it had a room for spontaneously improvising and affectively interacting with the weather, space, and audience. ‘Receiving god, what colonial modern considered as superstition, was perceived as deserving to dance freely and to sing as easily as talking (“dance like Beolreong Beolreong(freely) and sing like talking” said by Kyeong Ja Park, a shaman of Sunchon samseolyang gut).

This artistic search for pre-colonial/pre-modern aesthesis (the other worlds of sensing, meaning, and experiencing) and interpreting them into performance making brings out wild probabilities and presents unexpected images by the dancer and Pansori singer. The song of the master leads us to the cheerful dance in front of Korean popular music, Trot, and also to the sound of the selling man in Namdaemun old market.

Credit

Concept: Yeong Ran Suh

Collaborative research & creation: Eun Sil Noh, Yeong Ran Suh

Sound: Minhwi Lee, Tae Sun Yoo

Light: Dong Wuk Jung

Visual design: Bora Kim

Photo: Sang Hoon Ok

Video: Bitnari Shin

Special thanks to interviewees ;

Jeonju Salpuri dnace master, GapLae Jo,

Samseolyang gut shaman, Kyeong Ja Park

Pupil of disabled dance master. Ok Jin Kong, Hyeon Sun Han

Jinju Mask Dance scholar, Su Up Kim

Supported by Sunchon Art Space (2013), Mullae Map (2013), Seoul Foundation of Art and Culture (2013), Mongol Nomadic Artist Residency by Art Council Korea (2013)