This study examines the evolution of modern dance culture amidst the historical tribulations of the colonial era by analyzing dance photographs published in 1920s newspapers. Utilizing a literature review methodology, the research analyzes 317 photographs from Maeil Sinbo (154), Joseon Ilbo [Chosun Ilbo] (93), and Dong-a Ilbo (70). The analysis revealed three key findings. First, the photographs visually corroborate the heteronomous nature of dance culture under colonial rule. Second, they demonstrate the systematic assimilation of Japanese dance into colonial Korea. These images expose an imperialist agenda designed to manage and mobilize the colonized population under the pretext of artistic exchange. Third, despite such oppression, the photographs capture the emergence of a modern and subjective dance culture. This study holds significant value by providing a comprehensive pictorial understanding of the performing arts landscape during the Japanese occupation through the lens of newspaper photography. By re-evaluating these visual archives, the research illuminates the complex interplay between colonial hegemony and the pursuit of modern cultural identity in 1920s Korea.

The purpose of this study was to investigate an aspect of dancing transformation and its social meaning in the late Japanese occupation of Korea. Japanese had strengthened a war footing immediately after the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, and then they had controlled the daily lives of Korean people thoroughly by applying fascism to them. Regarding dancing, Japanese made Korean people be the actual new imperial citizens (Hwang-guk-sin-min) by calling it the national dancing, and Korean people couldn't help adapting to a new system of dancing. The new system of dancing was applied under the name of 'Emotional education for cheerful and rich life', but it was how to standardize Korean people. As for stage performing art, Japanese-oriented performances had appeared and there was A Song of Remembrance for Buyeo (Buyeohoisanggok) as a prominent performance. Buyeohoisanggok was created for 'Korea and Japan are One' policy by the Japanese Government General of Korea, National Total Chosun-Federation, and the Daehan-maeil-sinbo (newspaper), and it was a representative performance of propaganda. In addition, Japanese presumed upon Choi Seung-Hee's ability for Hwang-guk-sin-min and 'Korea and Japan are One' policy. In the early 1940s, she had advocated 'oriental dance' and created lots of performances under the influence of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Furthermore, she had donated profits came from performance to Japanese government under the name of contribution for nation, so she cooperated with Japanese half-willingly and half not. Akgeuk, which was the most closely related with the public, also accepted new changes through dance drama. The musical drama played a role of escapeway to forget the pain of the age for a little while through a peripheral stimuli. As the above, dancing in the late Japanese occupation of Korea had been transformed in sympathy with the stream of times.

This study aims to understand how the terms ‘muyong (dance)’ and ‘shinmuyong (new dance)’ were initiated, used, and established in Korea through newspapers in the Japanese colonial era such as the Maeil Shinbo, the Dong-A Daily news, and the Chosun Ilbo. The term muyong was first used in Japan, as suggesting a new formal characteristic of being not only Western and but also Japanese. It was simultaneously born with shinmuyong, a term indicating a type of dance newer than the existing one. Shinmuyong indicated an achievement of creation of new Japanese dance that was regarded as being compatible with that of the Western powers. It was an article on the Maeil Shinbo dealing with Yeki, a Japenese dance, on October 7, 1913 that introduced the term muyong to Korea for the first time under Japanese imperialism. In the Dong-A Daily news, muyong represented the term ‘Western dance’ when European tanz theater in 1920s was introduced; it was used to indicate a type of Western dance with philosophy and artistry. The Chosun Ilbo first used the term muyong in its article titled “Western Dance Nowadays” on October 7, 1927. Since then, both mudo and muyong had been used to refer to dance until early 1928, but since late 1928, the use of muyong had increased rapidly in the newspapers and then became generalized. The first article describing classical dance such as geom-mu (a sword dance), a Korean traditional dance, as muyong was the one written by Kim Dong Hwan dated May 12, 1927. The term shinmuyong was perceived as a creative dance that produced something new in 1930s in Korea. It was, in other words, used as a term similar to new-work dance, creative dance, or creative artistic dance with artistry and creativity on the basis of European modern dance.