FESTIVAL DANCERS
Korean Youth Cultural Center
DANCE ORIGIN: Korea
GENRE:
Pilbong
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Jaehong Jin
First Appearance in SF EDF: 2000 as Han Ma Dang
Website: www.kycc.net
Korea
is one of the world’s oldest civilizations and one of only few countries remaining inhabited by a
relatively homogeneous population. A peninsula in East Asia bordered by China, Japan and Russia, Korea
was called “land of the morning calm.” Korea’s music and dance is deeply rooted in ancient religious
rituals and collective agricultural labor. One folk tradition, called p’ungmul, incorporates drumming, dancing, singing and street theater into one coherent
processional art form. An integral part of village life for centuries, was performed to increase productivity during farm work and at rural holiday
celebrations. With its repetitive, circular movements and hypnotic rhythms, p’ungmulp’ungmul has been used to unite community spirit, and has served as an outlet of
personal and collective expression. P’ungmul has had
an interesting social and political history. Over time the function of the p’ungmul events have changed from ritual to political action. During the Japanese
occupation of Korea between 1910-1945, became a form
of recreation stripped of its meaning and power to unite. Yet by the late 1970s the People’s Movement,
which sought to mobilize workers and farmers to establish a national identity, revived it again. It
also played a key role in the student democratization movement in South Korea in the early 1980s.
Although deeply rooted in Korea, by the late 1980s p’ungmulp’ungmul
spread to major metropolitan areas in the United States as sympathetic groups sought out meaningful and
uniquely Korean American expression. It is performed today in both cultural celebrations and political
protests.Founded in 1987, the Korean Youth Cultural Center (KYCC) is one of the
oldest
Korean community organizations in the United States. Its goals
are to preserve and promote the
traditional arts of Korea and to use
the arts to improve the social conditions of Koreans and their
broader
Bay Area community.
2006 PERFORMANCE
TITLE OF PIECE: P’ungmul of the Pilbong Tradition
CHOREOGRAPHER: Jeahong Jin, Dohee Lee
DANCERS/MUSICIANS:Swe: Jenny Cho, Jaehong Jin,
Jing: Ilho Park, Jessica Yang
Changoo: Misook Ko, Eunha Lee, Helen
Min,
Buk: Ann Kwon, Juney Lee, Kyung Jin Lee, Catherine Pyun, Sangmo:
Patrick Chew, Kyungwook Jung, Sam Kim, Peter Halim Ko, T’aep’yǒngso:
Donna Kwon, Manjang:Soomi Kang, Elizabeth Suk, Misook
Like any dance or music form,
p’ungmul has many different styles. Pilbong is considered a purer style derived from the
village rituals of Korea’s Jeolla (Cholla) Province. The Korean Youth Cultural Center
performs a version of this in Pilbong-Pan-kut,
The musical instruments have deep symbolic meaning; metal in the gongs symbolize the
heavens, while the wood and leather of the drums represent the earth. Humans who play
the instruments are considered the bridge between heaven and earth.
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