The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of discourse act that was unfolded in the process of modern Korean dance securing its significance as performing arts. In Korea, the first-half of the twentieth century witnessed the formation of new culture based on a clash between modern Western civilization that was accepted and the autogenous modern consciousness. The appearance of newspapers, in particular, provided ample opportunities for the reading public to participate in the society and gave birth to the modern consciousness of sharing one's ideas with others. This happened in the field of dance from various perspectives including reviews in the criticism format after the appreciation of dance performances, critiques, dance theories, and new ideas of the traditional dance. There was no establishment of proper dance criticism in Korea during the modern period, however there were meaningful acts to create dance discourses from diverse perspectives and enhance the aesthetic modernity of the public.

This study focuses on the sociocultural and artistical interrelations between the "Korean Dance" and two of the most popular non-textual forms of mass media - commercial sound recordings (gramophone records) and films (feature films, newsreels, documentaries) - between the 1930s and 1960s. First, this study focuses on how gramophone records were employed through the Korean dance recitals during this period, as well as on what type of music was used in these recitals. Second, this paper examines the films documenting "Korean Dance" shot and produced during the time period in question, and discusses how these films were produced and how it has impacted establishing the "Korean Dance" through its mass distribution. By doing so, this paper attempts to provide a preliminary suggestion on how the "Korean Dance" has made its transitions over time, as well as an opportunity to historically understand the actual manifestation of "Korean dance" during its earlier days of a modern form of performing arts. It can be strongly argued that a strong sense of a historical parallel is revealed between the historic development of the Korean Dance in the early 20th century Korea and the development of the notion of Korean national culture, as both came into their modern manifestation through a series of constant interactions between Korean premodern cultures and the modern foreign cultures.

This research attempted to clarify trends of Korean dances during the 1960s by analyzing dance video data from the National Gugak Center’s Garfias Collection. The Garfias Collection is an archive of Korean performing arts that was donated by American music anthropologist Robert Garfias in 2019. In 1966, Garfias stayed in Korea for several months and recorded Korean traditional performing arts through photographs and videos. In this collection, there are 14 video clips of Korean dances of the 1960s, which can be classified into three sections: court dance, Buddhist dance, and folk dance. Various literature surveys and expert interview were conducted to investigate the background and activity status of the performers at the time, as well as the costumes, dance movements and the composition patterns of each dance. In the case of court dance, they were performed before systematic restoration based on literature had been carried out, and it was found that the progress was faster and contained more creative elements than the current one. In Buddhist dance, it has proceeded almost identically to what is currently being performed, but it can be said that the pace of progression is faster and the individuality of the dancer stands out. Finally, in folk dance, it provided an opportunity to gain a new perspective on the formation of traditional dance since the video showed a very different aspect from the dance that is currently being transmitted.

This thesis examines the current status of the dance research of North Korea in three areas: research on dance history, research on dance theory, and the transmission and research of the cultural dance heritage. We investigate comprehensively by looking into the history of North Korean dance by identifying the artistic purpose of North Korea and the ways dance history books organize its history, and the research trend. In particular, it should be understood correctly on condition that the ideology contained in the dance, the social-cultural context, and the dance as a comprehensive art must be studied in paralleled with various theoretical systems, aesthetic characteristics, principles, and methods from a multifaceted perspective.

The history and culture of dance that could not be explained with old materials alone have been identified scientifically, newly established, and systematized in North Korea, and based on this, North Korean dance scholarship focused on the study of theory and method on the issues regarding transmission of the excellent traditions and dance heritage of the nation. This focus become an important guideline to the development of dance art in North Korea.

In addition, more systematic theoretical studies have been conducted in various ways, including Korean dance history, basic dance theory, and dance notation. These studies are significant in laying the foundation for the systemic and scientific study of dance theory. That would support the basics of dance, dance creation, and theoretical investigation.

This study recognizes the role and importance of basic dance in Korean dance education, and aims to identify the research trends on basic dance choreography for about 50 years and examine the current status to be used as basic data.

In order to examine basic dance research trends, it was analyzed by year, publishing agency, and topic-specific criteria, and a total of 66 dissertations published from 1974 to 2020 were selected after keyword search using the RISS.

First, the annual standard was divided into five units for 10 years. The first phase of the study was 6.1%, with a high proportion of dissertations. The second term shows a quantitative increase of 12.1%. The third term decreased quantitatively from the second. The fourth and fifth periods saw rapid growth in research results, and a quantitative increase of 75.7% is confirmed. The subject of research has expanded to philosophy and aesthetics.

Second, the analysis by publishing organization showed that the dissertation was published at 13 universities and the academic journal paper was published at 16 academic societies.

Third, as a result of the analysis on a topic-specific basis, the most discussed topics are Dance/Movement Analysis, and the least discussed topics are psychology (treatment) and sociology/anthropology.

The last 20 years of the 50 years of research have shown a radical development in basic dance research, showing remarkable academic achievements such as proliferation in terms of various research topics, multi-disciplinary analysis and depth on specific topics, and efforts to build the structure and principles of basic dance.