This study was to examinate the historical and social background of the establishment of four(4) National Gugak centers and explore what meaning the development and change have by reviewing in historical the founding and performance of each dance troupe in the four of National Gugak centers. Data was researched through 『Gugak yearbook』 being annually published by National Guak center and its range was limited from the establishment of the center to the present, especially the year of 2017.
In Korea, Since a long time ago, It has been general that dance is a comprehensive art performance without being separated from music. Hence, Dance in National music institution started from Eumseongseo of Silla dynasty period, about 1,400 year ago, and reached National Gugak center of the present through Daeakseo and Kwanhyenbang of Goryeo dynasty Period, Jangakwon of Chosun dynasty period, and Yiwangjikaakbu of Japanse colony.
The National Gugak center under the supervision of Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is based as a headquarter in Seoul and has regional branches in Namwon, Jindo, and Busan. The headquarter of the center was petitioned to the state by Guwanggungaakbu which was formed in succession to Yiwangjikaakbu, after the liberation, and opened in 1951. The purpose of the establishment was to preserve and creatively transmit Korean traditional performing arts. The first regional branch, Namwon Naional Gugak center, which is the origin of DongpyeonJe and the area in which created Korean classical music such as Heungbuga and Chunhyangga, was established in 1992 and its mission was the foundation and activation of Korean traditional folk music. The second branch, Jindo National Gugak center, which is the origin of Jindo Ganggangsullae and Jindo Sikkimgut, as a national intangible cultural heritage, was established in 2004 by MCST, under the purpose of combining culture and tourism, and its mission was the discovery, preservation and transmission of Namdo arts and traditional music. Busan national Gugak center of the last branch, in which Dance such as Dongraehakchum and Dongraehanryangchum has developed, was established in 2008 by the establishing proposal of local traditional musicians and its mission was the succession and development of traditional performing arts of Yeongnam local area. As such, the four National Gugak Centers were established by different historical and social background of each regional branch and had each different mission to match the characteristics of its region.
The result of the review of the regular performance history of each regional National Gugak Dance troupe including the headquarter of the center as follows
First, In the headquarter National Gugak dance troupe founded in 1962, the followings was shown by period : i) recreation of the royal court dance and its historical research for the first time in the period of 1977-1984, ii) regular performance consisting of Korean traditional folk dance, mainly in royal court dance performance in the period of 1984-1990, iii) creative dance performance based on royal court dance and history enriched through the recreation of royal court ceremony and rituals in the period of 1990-2008, iv) dance performance through the modern interpretation of royal court dance such as a storytelling of royal court dance for exchange between tradition and the public in the period of 2010-2017. As well as, National Gugak center contributed the preservation and succession of the various royal court ceremonies including the Jongmyo shrine selected as UNESCO human oral and intangible heritage but more research is needed for the preservation of tradition and creative succession because creation that is out of its essence cannot be regarded as succession.
Second, In Dance troupe of Namwon National Gugak Center founded in 1997, the following was shown by period : i) various performance in the form of presentation including national folk dance, royal court dance, creative dance in the period of 1998-2011. ii) recreation of the genre of Pansori dance play which combines music, dance and play, and attempt to create a stage for scaled royal court dance by replaying Dangakjeongjae and Akhakgwebeom, in the period of 2014-2017. As well as, Namwon National Gugak center contributed : i) creation of Korean classical opera with five surviving stories of Pansori including Chunhyangjeon. iii) performance activity approaching to the public by using bus such as Dallinen Gugak stage, but didn’t well reveal the identity of the big concept of folk which means the permanence of the time that the people have lived.
Third, Dance troupe in Jindo National Gugak which was founded in 2014 cherished memory of Sewall Ferry with the theme of Jindo Sikkimgut, a culture of Jindo area and comforted performed peoples with mourning of society in its regular performance. Jindo National Gugak center discovered, researched, recreated, preserved and succeeded the culture of Jindo area such as Jindo Sikkimgut, GangGangsuwollae and Janggubukchum, performed commercial comprehensive arts and Gugakt training and education more than other Gugak centers’, as it is a training specialized institute. Meanwhile, It is considered for Jindo Gugak center that the follow-up study on the research and publicity campaign of Korean traditional dance and Gugak effect, is necessary.
Fourth, Dance troupe in Busan National Gugak center which was founded in 2009, regularly performed in form of Korean Classical opera with the discovery, reserach and recreation of YeongNamchum, TongyeongChum and DongraeChum which were Korean traditional dance and culture in YeongNam area. Buan National Gugak center performed to meet with the purpose of its initial establishment and the portion and performance of its dance troupe took up more than others because there were many Korean traditional dances in the culture development of YeongNam area, as well as, performance projects steadily increased in the number of viewers and performance frequency and it was a successive activity satisfied with artistic and popularity.
As mentioned above, dance troupe of each Gugak center performed its mission in accordance with following regional characteristics :
i) National Gugak Center specialized in Royal court dance, ii) Namwon National Gugak Center specialized in Korean folk dance and Korean traditional opera, iii) Jindo National Gugak Center specialized in Namdo folk dance and Gugak training and education, iv) Busan National Gugak Center speicalized in Yeongnam folk dance and regional balance. In addition, the performances arts of their dance troupes could be comprehensive arts which combine music, song, and dance, because, their performances were professionally distributed according to their regional characteristics and their organization were divided as follows : i) their division for planning and operation was in charge of their performance projects and operation, ii) research for better development was conducted in Gugak research office. Therefore, Korean traditional culture including dance and music was systematically succeeded and distributed due to the mutual work sharing of the organically connected organization, rather than only dance troupe’s own performance.
Suggestion of the study for more development of our traditional culture as follows : i) discovery and research of the traditional culture of various regions, ii) establishment of the identity of Korean traditional Dance and Gugak, iii) attempt research planning that enrich their contents. Therefore, from this point of view, National Gugak center should be established in various regions in which regional culture can be discovered and actively performed, because the national culture can be built based on regional culture and the development of formed national culture was due to diversity of regional culture.