Vitalization of Korean Dance Plays through Narrative Storytelling
Present-day economic developments have provided more spare time and greater convenience to the masses, who are engaging in a variety of cultural experiences in order to enhance their...
Vitalization of Korean Dance Plays through Narrative Storytelling
Present-day economic developments have provided more spare time and greater convenience to the masses, who are engaging in a variety of cultural experiences in order to enhance their quality of life. Such phenomena have heightened peoples’ cultural and artistic disposition and have acted as a stimulant for growth in the performing arts industry.
The growth of the performing arts industry has led to greater necessity of new content development. As such, the performing arts market has introduced “storytelling,” where the narrative structures of literature act as the foundation on which works are formed. Storytelling is used in various fields and has become popularized and widely consumed. With the addition of technical attributes, storytelling is becoming more broadly utilized in the culture content industry, allowing it to develop further.
Dance plays built on storytelling are also being performed across various genres. However, because dance plays deliver the plot through movements of the body, there are often parts difficult for the audience to understand. Dance performances that were too hard to grasp acted as factors that hindered popularization, and revealed a limitation that explained their underdevelopment in the performing arts market.
As a method to address the above issues, narrative storytelling is expressed through various methods (videos on stage, subtitles, narration, acting, songs, etc.) in performance works.
Further development and vitalization of dance plays in Korea are expected, through the addition of a narrative to storytelling elements to improve audiences’ understanding and the presentation of performances as new works created by a variety of methods.
Thus, the conclusions reached regarding the vitalization of dance plays in Korea through the analysis of “Taekwonmumu Dalha” using narrative storytelling are as follows:
First, direction for new cultural content should be provided by further studying assorted movements (which is an advantage of dance plays), the integration of different techniques and the storytelling of the works.
Second, works of performing arts that combine commercial success factors and popular appeal must be created, by diversifying storytelling methods.
Third, popular appeal should be secured, by utilizing the narrative method in multiple ways for easier understanding.
Fourth, education in line with current cultural and performing arts trends should be carried out for dance plays in Korea to develop into diverse forms.
Finally, by combining the above study results in the effort to vitalize dance plays in Korea, the limitations in dance plays can be overcome and their vitalization can be made possible.
The researcher of this study was the planner and producer of “Clown Part 2: Are You Happy?,” which was created based on the above vitalization suggestions. The work, whose theme was “are modern-day people, whose inner-self is hidden behind a mask of deceit in this society, actually happy?,” implemented a narrative storytelling technique in which an acting narrator is featured, who facilitated the audience’s understanding.
The performance of “Clown Part 2: Are You Happy?,” which was based on the vitalization suggestions presented in this study, provided a glimpse into the potential of dance plays in Korea, with narrative storytelling, as cultural content.