The purpose of this study is to provide basic data that can serve as a guideline for understanding and interpreting the current state of Korean street dance by examining the inflow and development of Locking dance in Korea.

As research methods, interviews with three Locking experts were conducted and each interviewee’s responses were thematically categorized for the analysis of the study. As a result, Locking dance was introduced to Korean people firstly through video materials such as movies, broadcasts, and dance videos from abroad, and later by inviting well-known dancers from different countries to Korean dance competitions as judges. The introduction to Locking dance in Korean society motivated some Korean dancers to invite, various Locking dancers from across the world to Korea for dance workshops, which gave those who learned Locking dance only by watching videos the opportunity to experience the “original” Locking style. Since then, Locking dance in Korea has been more developed through the steady exchanges between Korea dancers and dancers from other countries. Currently, the number of Locking classes, workshops, and events in Korea has drastically increased.

This paper examines the implications of the current status of street dance in Korea, which is rapidly growing aided by institutionalization in the cultural industry and education market. This study begins with the researchers' recognition that situations requiring a clearer definition of street dance-related terms frequently occur. We interviewed street dancers from various positions to figure out the practical uses and perceptions on street dance terms. In order to illuminate the theoretical significance of the emphasis on stylized sub-genres, which was emerged as a core theme during the coding process, we refer to Paul DiMaggio's sociological study on classification in art. The findings are summarized as follows. First, various classification systems evolved as street dance in Korea transformed first emerging as amateur popular dance, moving on to cultural industry, finally arriving as professional art. Second, specific sub-genres are increasingly hierarchical, universally recognized, and ritually bordered, the pattern of which suggests a canonization. However, even during the institutionalization and canonization, street dance reveals complexities that do not fit into a static classification system.