In this blog post, I’ll summarize the academic experiences, school activities, and lessons I learned through collaboration while majoring in dance in high school.
Academic Experiences and Reflections
While majoring in Dance and Acting at an arts high school in the Jeonnam region, I intensively studied the fundamentals of Korean dance. Having studied Korean dance separately since I was young, I naturally chose to major in Dance and Acting, and I gained particular confidence in fan dance and drum dance. Through the high school curriculum, I also had the opportunity to learn traditional dances such as the Salpuri dance for the first time, broadening my understanding of traditional forms.
In my major courses, I strove to master the specific techniques of Korean dance with precision, while simultaneously taking modern dance and acting classes to achieve a harmonious balance. This approach—aiming for an integrated understanding of tradition and modernity, as well as acting and dance—broadened my range of expression and helped me develop well-rounded skills without leaning too heavily toward any single genre.
In particular, the Movement Analysis course was central to my studies. Movement analysis involved understanding the structure and characteristics of bodily movement. By combining theoretical study with written assignments and practical exercises, I practiced identifying the points where movement and music intersect and linking sequences of movements. Through this process, I learned how to develop my expression step by step in practical performance, and I noticed that this enabled me to perform with much greater subtlety and precision when later studying Korean or contemporary dance.
Classes related to stage technology were also very meaningful to me. Previously, I had viewed stage design, costumes, makeup, lighting, and sound as peripheral elements rather than knowledge directly connected to dance; however, after studying these subjects, I gained the ability to creatively design the entire stage. Instead of simply using costumes and makeup as provided, I began planning them myself to match the music and my expression. Through courses in Introduction to Theater and Dance Music, I cultivated my ability to appreciate plays and my sense of rhythm, adding depth to my expression.
Major Campus Activities and Reflections
As a member of the Department of Dance and Acting’s folk performance troupe, I gained experience in perfecting traditional art forms by collaborating with traditional dancers and a traditional music ensemble. During my freshman year, I mainly practiced by watching and imitating the performances of my seniors, and I felt I lacked the skills to take on stage design or technical planning myself. However, inspired by the seniors’ free and spontaneous self-expression, I applied what I learned in class and dedicated myself to practice in order to create such performances myself.
As the years passed, the troupe’s skills gradually improved, and as we grew closer, our teamwork became more seamless. In my sophomore year, I took on the role of planning stage design and coordinating dance movements through meetings with the traditional music ensemble; after several months of intensive rehearsals, we were able to prepare a high-quality performance. When we performed at a local cultural center for the first time, we received better reviews than expected, which gave me a great boost of confidence.
Thanks to a recommendation from a local official who saw that performance, our troupe was invited to an international event in Japan. When I first heard the news about the invitation to an international event, I was very nervous about how to prepare, but my seniors and teachers congratulated me on our achievement and encouraged me to prepare with the same passion as always. Bolstered by the support of those around me, I threw myself even more wholeheartedly into preparing for the performance.
The international exchange festival held in Japan was a large-scale event featuring youth groups from various countries, and we aimed to showcase the beauty of Korean dance through our performance. We selected music that would feel familiar to the audience and participants and planned to highlight movements that exemplify the distinctive characteristics of Korean dance. We curated a program centered on music that reflected regional characteristics, such as Arirang and Pansori, and prepared meticulously to ensure each piece flowed organically into the next.
The traditional music ensemble and the dance troupe worked closely together to create a stage composition that allowed each to shine, and through consultation with the conductor, we determined the dynamics and visual focus. We experimented with various staging techniques, including scenes where the dance troupe dominated the entire stage, scenes where they moved in two balanced groups, and scenes that shifted the focus to acting. The audience response was enthusiastic, and we received many compliments—including “beautiful”—from Japanese students and participants from other countries.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Collaboration, and Reflections
For our final on-campus arts festival before graduation, the entire third-year class collaborated to plan and prepare a large-scale Arirang performance. We mobilized all the skills we had built up over the years to present a stage performance that was as spectacular and polished as possible, and we created a diverse composition by coordinating with students from other departments on multiple occasions.
Through representative meetings, we prioritized cooperation and harmony among all groups, including solo performances, traditional Korean music, ballet, Korean dance, pansori, and the instrumental ensemble. Achieving harmony among multiple groups on a single stage was no easy task, but through our prior experience, we already knew exactly when each group needed to appear to maintain the overall balance. As a result, we were able to create a production that highlighted each group’s strengths without disrupting the overall flow.
The performance began with solo acts, followed by a majestic performance by the traditional Korean music ensemble, and then featured scenes where ballet and contemporary dance offered modern reinterpretations of “Arirang.” My Korean dance troupe performed the traditional “Arirang” dance, showcasing its authentic beauty, and the performance culminated in a grand finale where modern instrumental music and pansori blended together. This production, brought to life by so many people coming together, was the largest-scale performance I have ever experienced, and the sense of accomplishment was immense, given that the entire third-year class collaborated on it.
