On Thursday, March 31 and Friday, April 1, the Seoujung Dance Company from South Korea performed a series of dances, showcasing traditional Korean dance, music, and culture. The event was entitled “Korean WAVE – Globalization of Korean Traditional Culture 2016.”

One of the Seoujung dancers, Mi-Hee Lee, is the Artistic Director at the Seoujung Dance Company. Lee, along with other selected dancers from Seoujung, performed a series of traditional Korean folk and court dances. Before their arrival in the United States, the Seoujung Dance Company also performed in France, Belgium and London.

Traditional Korean dance has many unique elements that tell of its unique history. Two types of traditional Korean dances, court and folk dances, have many differing aspects. In a historical sense, court dances were typically performed at elite banquets that were sponsored by the royal courts and held for the upper class citizens.

The two types of traditional folk dances are Hyang-ak and Tang-ak. Hyang-ak is an ancient form of the court dance that starts by having all of the dancers sing a short segment of a classical song in unison. Tang-ak differs in the sense that it still has a recitation of a classical song, but it is done by only one dancer who is typically to the side.

Traditional Korean folk dances are a little different from the court dances. These dances are more concerned with expressing the emotion and the feelings of everyday life that the dancers have. These dances allow the performers to express themselves and to utilize their improvisation. The tempos of these dances are typically very fast-paced and upbeat.

Along with featuring some of the native Korean court and folk dances, the Seoujung dancers performed to some traditional Korean music as well.

The performances took place on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Annett Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts building and on Friday at 10:00 a.m. in the Brian and Lori Hesprich Auditorium in Graff Main Hall. In addition, a master class was also held on Friday, following the performances in the Center for the Arts.

Sandra Denall, a sophomore student at UW-La Crosse who attended one of the performances, said, “The dancing included a lot of slow movements alongside fast-paced drumming and high-pitched flute playing. The music was somewhat dissonant and made it sound like something dramatic was about to happen, however, the dancers never really changed their movements drastically.”

Denall mentioned that she liked the pairing of the style of music with the dancing. “I think that the music that was performed corresponded very well to the style of dancing. The pairing made it a very different, yet distinctive, performance to watch,” said Denall.

Any questions regarding the performances by the Seoujung Dance Company? Contact Soojn Ritterling at [email protected] or at 608.785.8417.