FESTIVAL DANCERS
Hearan Chung Korean Dance
DANCE ORIGIN: Korea
GENRE: Traditional
CHOREOGRAPHER: Hearan Chung
First Appearance in SF EDF: 2002
Korea is a Peninsula in East Asia bordering China and Russia, with a water circumference comprising the Yellow Sea, the Korea Strait, and the Sea of Japan.
Throughout Korea’s history, several significant religions contributed to the country’s philosophy and daily life practices, namely: Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Korean Shamanism, and later Christianity. Shamanism continued as a religious practice, fusing with other religions, which resulted in new variations of Shamanism. In contemporary Korea, Shamanism is known as muism. The shaman, called mudang, is usually a woman and acts as an intermediary between the gods and humans.
In Korean Shamanism, death is not viewed as an end, but as part of a revolving cycle of death and rebirth. Despite the physical disappearance of one’s body, the soul lives on forever in its own world of the dead. Jindo Shit Kim Goot is a form of Shamanism that allows a peaceful death by resolving a person’s grudges from the living world.
Hearan Chung began dancing at the age of five and has since become a master at several Korean dance forms, including court, folk, and contemporary. She holds BA and MA degrees in dance from the distinguished E-Wha Women’s University. She has taught in leading dance universities all over Korea and has been invited to perform throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. She is a leading figure in Korean dance and is a founding member of the Northern California Korean Dance Association, established in 2004. She has performed at the Asian Art Museum, Women on the Way Festival, and in the 2002 and 2005 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festivals. In 2006 she was featured on the PBS program SPARK.
2007 PERFORMANCE
 TITLE: Shin Kal Deh Shin Mu
CHOREOGRAPHER/SOLOIST: Hearan Chung
Korean Master Artist Hearan Chung uses a kind of wand called a shin kal, made from layers of white paper cut into thin pieces and attached to a long bamboo stick, in Shin Kal Deh Shin Mu. The shin kal is used in the dying process as a key to open the door to the world of the dead. The dance is performed to protect the dead soul from interference of any evil and to safely lead it onto the next world.
Each element of this dance has deep symbolism. The shin kal wand, held in both hands, portrays the mourning for the dead, the long white cloth used in the beginning of the dance represents the path of the soul, while the cut paper on the wand is considered money used by the soul during its journey to the other world. The powerful shaking movement the shaman creates with the shin kal in hand threatens the devil from attacking the soul, thus freeing the soul to move to the next life.
2005 PERFORMANCE
TITLE: Bi Chun
Mu
CHOREOGRAPHY: Hearan Chung
MUSIC: Buddhist chanting and Ssit-kkim-kut
The specific form of Seungmu performed by Hearan Chung in the 2005
Festival, is a type known as a "creation dance." In Korea,
death is not
viewed as an end, but part of a revolving cycle of death
and rebirth. With
its ethereal movements, mesmerizing drumbeats and
haunting chants, this
dance carries the message of a soul's transformation
to a new form of
life. The symbolism revolves around a bird preparing
to fly away. It is a
metaphor for a dead human soul healing itself
from the resentments of
worldly life, thus freeing it to move to the
next life.
The
dancer wears the traditional jangsam robe with
long ribbon-like
sleeves, along with a white triangular hat and long red
cloth draped
over one shoulder. Each part of the attire represents aspects
of a
bird. The movement of the sleeves is symbolic of the wings and
signifies
the human desire to be united with the heavenly spirits. With
precise
foot steps and a variety of sleeve-tossing techniques, the dance
culminates
to the sounds of a huge drum.
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