Traditions through Change: Korean Performance in Modern Society

The K-pop band “Rainbow” at the DSP family festival. We often associate K-pop with Korean performance, but what about the older aspects of Korean culture, both as an alternative and an influence?

In a stadium 45 minutes outside of Seoul, eight thousand fans gather to watch the national finals for League of Legends.  At the same time in the Itaewon district north of the river, a Mudang balances an entire pig on a pitchfork to dispel evil spirits.   Somewhere South of the river, nearby to Gangnam, a group of B-boys, poppers and lockers gather for an organized dance battle, competing with dancers from China, Japan and the U.S.  Korea is a dynamic country where ancient performance traditions exist side by side with the popular culture of E-sports and K-pop.  Oftentimes as countries develop economically traditions will die out or become commoditized purely for tourism.  However, South Korea has managed to maintain a cultural identity in the performance arts, maintaining the traditions of ancestors while modernizing for the global cultural landscape.  While all of these performances are radically different on the surface, much of the core stays the same throughout.  Tae Oh’Sok, one of Korea’s most prominent modern playwirghts, describes the nation better than I could:

“Listen to Korean music and its chang’dan.  It never keeps the same beat.  Our tradition has always avoided set forms.  It has descended to us not in a fixed state, but in an ever-flowing fashion.  Our tradition has grown spontaneously.  It constantly changes, reflecting current situations because it is innately fluid.” – Tae Oh’Sok