Performances of "Tradition" for Tourists : Jeongdong Theatre's "Youll"

For many years I've wanted to more deeply examine the performances that are marketed to tourists in Korea. A friend of mine, Choi Haeree, invited me to one of them and I decided that this would be the perfect time to write a paper on some of the issues with appropriation and commodification of tradition that I've seen in such shows. My chief issue with performances for tourists is how they adjust tradition to a point where what they are showing lacks many of the beautiful aspects of actual tradition, or worse, just uses a facade of tradition while offering nothing of substance.

Haeree and I watched a show at Haeundae Grand Hotel in Busan called "The Queen's Banquet." There were many issues, but... there were some good points to the show as well. The full price is 30,000 won, but it seems there are a lot of ways to get discounts, if you're in Busan anyway, you might like it. I wouldn't tell someone "never see that" as there are redeeming features (I particularly was happy that I could take photos during the show!). 

For the second show of three that I am watching specifically  for the purposes of writing this paper, I went to Jeongdong Theatre (formerly written Chungdong but I noticed they've changed the spelling to RR Romanization). Again, I was able to get a ticket for free. Thanks be! Because it was one of the worst performances I've ever seen. Seriously, it was horrible. If you said the show in Busan was like an enthusiastic student performance where they missed some of the subtle aesthetics and got too excited and jumped too much, well, this show in Seoul would be the show done by some pretentious art school students who understand nothing, think they understand everything, have no respect for anyone (including the audience) and are bored out of their minds, or fully know they're doing something stupid and their desire to be somewhere else shows. 

So, let me see if I can explain why this show (ticket prices of 30-60,000 won) was so bad. 

First: The show included all the cliches. If a woman is evil, she sexually tempts, exposes too much of her body (hello, in a "traditional" show you've got women with skirts slit straight to their crotch?), or she wears black lipstick. If a woman is good, she's bashful about physical contact, or she flits around on her toes with a white feather/wand. The story was stupid and cliche over all. It could be summarized as: evil kills good king, hero emerges through difficulty, hero and heroine prepare for battle with evil, they defeat evil, they get married. The entire play was mostly non-verbal, except for sung narration. The over-acting to make sure you'd understand the un-narrated bits was... extreme.

Second: There were essentially three traditional elements at play. A) pansori B) pungmul drumming C) hanbok costumes. But the pansori singers are either incompetent, or more likely, the director told them to make it less of a pansori type singing and more of an operatic type singing. The distinctive properties of pansori were almost absent. Songs were used as narration to move the story (in pansori, narration is narration-- it's spoken-- and songs are when the action slows down to real-time speed instead of compressed jumps), and at almost every instance the pansori was accompanied by a cacophony (yes, loud, loud, loud) of recorded music from offstage including synthesizers, and maybe some cymbal, high hat, a little drum, or whatever from the Western drumset drummer who was in the pit to the front and side of the stage. So the actual beauty of pansori (accompanied by a single drummer on a barrel drum, very subtle) was never on display.

The pungmul drummers had -at most- forty-five seconds of stage time without other off-stage or front stage Western drumset man music accompanying them. Even though the drummers were on stage about five times, you never really got a sense of Korean rhythms or the actual sound of just drumming (even though Korean traditional drumming tends to be what foreigners enjoy the most, show after show).  And finally the hanbok were all fancied up and made sexier, so the performers could look slim and beautiful-- not one traditional hanbok was ever on stage, except perhaps some of what the peasants were wearing, but even those were not white minbok, even if they were minbok-esque. 

I am not saying the show has to be traditional, or that it needs to be fully authentic, but if your marketing and promotional literature talks about how you showcase the heritage of pansori and talk up how it's also UNESCO listed, then at least you can actually have some real pansori on stage. There were a lot of foreigners in the audience, and they thought they were seeing tradition-- they wanted to see tradition, that's why they bought the ticket. To show that that horrible show at best leaves the beauty of Korean tradition tarnished in their eyes. They probably go home saying "that didn't seem very different than xxxx from my culture." There was no dance motion from tradition, and the martial arts scenes were at best an orientalist fantasy of all Asian martial arts rolled into one, nothing specific to Korea, in fact, since the hero and heroine use long staffs, which are not much used in Korean martial arts, but are used abundantly in Chinese arts, probably any Chinese viewer would have thought it was stage-Kung Fu, not anything Korean. 

Third: The entire show was a mish-mash of orientalism and self-exotification where the directors and producers were clearly aiming for a non-Korean (Western) eye, without caring one whit about accurate or otherwise presentations of Korean traditions or culture. The entire thing felt icky, like I needed a shower afterwards. And of course it also represented a giant missed opportunity. The show is twice a day, six days a week. It's widely promoted and backed by the government. All those people who could have learned something didn't. For example at the end the heroine is in a slim and body hugging white gown (with hanbok elements), and has a white veil-like hair piece. So you can understand they're getting married. Never mind that in Korea white is the color of death and funerals, and that traditional wedding robes are gorgeous, splendid things that don't use some lame filmy white lace, but rather an even more awesome hair piece like crown with a trailing embroidered silk strip down the back of the head. Of course a one word title on the side (they had English on one side, Japanese and Chinese on the other on screens) could have declared "wedding celebration" just to make it all clear for the audience, if they really thought people needed it.

They were very proud of their hyper-modern visual techniques-- and I admit a couple times they were cool-- but most of the time they were just distracting and more light on the stage and less eyestrain from trying to see through weird layers of projected moving images would have been nicer. 

I am appalled that this is what is being offered to tourists, that every travel agency is recommending this show (one reason is that most shows are one-off and agencies like long runs that are easy to predict), and that in fact Jeongdong Theatre has slipped so much (I enjoyed some of their cheesy tourist stuff in the past, admittedly when I knew less about traditional performance, but it was much more traditional than this). Tourists who come for a once in a lifetime visit to Korea should be shown the best of Korea, not some horrible mix of bad singing, ballet-esque motion, and historionics. 

I just hope that the final show of the three is less odious to sit through. 

Field Notes: April 18th at Songpa Sandae Noli Practice

These days I rarely write up real field notes. That's stupid of course. Yes, I'm not writing my dissertation, or revising it at the moment (I have an overdue book chapter for an edited volume to write instead). Of course later I will forget details. So yesterday I actually took some decent field notes and I'm going to actually type them up! Wonders never cease! (Note, that I should be writing the book chapter).

The full length performance for this year is on the 9th of May, so there are only a few days left before the performance to practice. This means that the attendance is higher, and everyone takes things more seriously.

-----------
Today in the morning (11?) 함승헌 took his 이수자 test. I recorded an interview with him about it. He said it was more frightening than when he interviewed for anything else ever in his life, he had to talk about how his life aligned with practice of SSN (as a non-full-time performer), and answer a few questions to gauge his knowledge of the art, demonstrate the basic dance motions, and perform (with just 장구 and 피리 and no one across from him) the part of 취발이. He passed. More details are on the MP3 file.

Because Ham Jr. had done his test, a certain number of people had been around for a few hours already by the time I arrived at 1:45 (practice started at 3). Principally 이한복, 강차욱 (those two played the music for the test), 김영숙, 이병옥 and 함완식 who must have been very proud that his son advanced to 이수자 but I couldn't see any hint of that in his face or deportment. Other people also arrived before me, and shortly afterwards. The 심사위원 who had come for the exam had introduced various conversations while talking with 이병옥 and 함완식 and had infected everyone with an attitude of seriousness about how to best prepare for the full length performance. One of the things they said was that the 서울놀이마당's madang is too large, and if we try to take up the whole thing it loses feeling and looks bad-- they advised that the performance happen in the center with people sitting around outside, as has been done before some years. 김영숙  is going to look into the legless chairs with backs and see if we can get some of them for the viewers.

Before practice started I mostly talked with 김영숙 about a variety of things-- I started off by talking to her about the subject of the book chapter-- women in mask dance dramas. The interview was very unscripted and rambling, I basically stayed next to her and the conversation wove in and out of the topic, commenting on people around us, and various criticism that the office manager (a woman of opinions, no joke) had about other people and recent events. I managed to pull out my voice recorder and turn it on, tucked under my arm. The moment she sees the recorder she gets too reticent, and almost won't talk about anything at all -- even without seeing a recorder she often says things to undermine the value in her words (ex. "I'm not a talented dancer"). There was a ton of background environmental noise, including even the noise of at times 3 or 4 instruments in the small space-- and the recorder was under my arm, not held close to her mouth. And, as I said, the conversation ranged widely. The critical things of course I would never use, but the comments about women doing mask dance drama I need, so I'll just send her an email in a few days with the English content referring to the conversation, and a translation, and ask if she wants me to say "an experienced woman who has been a mask dancer more than thirty years" or if it is okay to use her name. Since what she said was already very curated (on that subject) and she knows I'm writing this chapter and have already talked to a lot of other performers about it, she'll probably agree for me to use her name. If I was confident of my memory, I wouldn't have sneakily recorded at all, but I excuse the sneakiness because I'll show her exactly how I want to use her words and get her permission to use her name before I ever do it. I much prefer what I can do with people like 이병옥, just stick the recorder in his hand, and just easily record in a quiet location.  At one point Yeongsuk and I went to the office, but by then she'd basically finished saying anything about her ideas and was asking me questions about my work situation and when I'll know if I am signing a new contract.

After stretching and basic motions (perhaps 30 minutes, combined), 이병옥 and to a lesser extent 함완식 pointed out some issues. One was confusion over 3 different dance motions with similar names and motions (the difference being the 장단 the motion is performed to, and whether you walk in a circle, or do the motion in place). When SSN does basic motions, unlike other mask dance dramas, such as Bongsan Talchum or Goseong Ogwangdae where everyone does the same sequence of events, the sequence and number of each motion before doing the next motions depends on who is leading. 김명하 was leading, in the front left corner facing the mirror and next to the musicians (이한복 (on piri or daegeum), 강차욱 (on janggu or piri), 윤지희 (haegeum) and another woman who is a friend of Jihee's, I think her name is 김희경, also playing haegeum plus 함완식 sometimes playing the janggu), I was in the back right corner, and over the instruments and space, I could only occasionally hear the call of the next motion, and just had to be quick on my toes so that I wouldn't make a mistake. Each motion is repeated on both sides for two, four, or even a dozen times before moving on. Since most members of the group, including 김명하 are older and their physical conditioning is not very good (they're older than me, and don't do hapkido 5 days a week), by the time they finished most people were drenched in sweat, but I felt like we had really barely practiced some of the motions. After discussion about the three similar motions and trying to clarify the names so that everyone wouldn't get confused, the discussion moved onto why SSN is called a --------- dance. I will have to ask someone, because I thought I'd noted the name correctly, but googling the name doesn't return a result. The conversation then went on to discuss if (or not) SSN has distinctively bold use of the wrist in dance motions. The senior members all denied this, although Ham Sr. brought up the fact that one of the original members at the time of certification had had particularly active wrists.

After this interlude practice of scenes commenced. The first scene was 곤장놀이, after the scene ended 이병옥 emphasized that everyone had to use very precise pronunciation in the performance. The eight monks were each told to practice at home to make their performance more "멋있어요" (in this case we can gloss this as meaning impressive). Next they practiced 침놀이 and after the scene ended 함, 이 and other senior members, such as 이수환 criticized the crucial end of the scene, correctly the delivery and actions of the players "죽든지 살든지, 내가 몰라." After this everyone last focus for a good 10 minutes, then came back together to practice the 7th scene (the first one with 노장). I was extremely happy to see them making all the 먹중 coordinate their motions, because the last two times I've seen this scene someone has been off. After the scene was rehearsed there was a discussion of line delivery "as if you have no mic" because this will match the traditional tone better (and, dare I say, the mics DO fail sometimes).

Crappy cell phone photos of rehearsal

Next the 먹중 (most of them) got a rest and they practiced the 샌님/말뚝이 scene. 다미 will perform as the youngest of the 3 양반, which disappointed me. I would really have liked to perform that role. After they practice there is a long discussion. As with most discussions the voice or authority starts with "I remember when [old teacher so and so] used to do this..." "It used to go like this" -- to actually find fault with others without bringing up the past is much less common and only happens if you're super confident about your opinion (like 이병옥). The discussion goes over where the members of the scene should be, and in what orientation to the audience, Ham Sr. accused 탄종원 of over-action, and 다미 is given feedback both pulled aside (by 장규식 who usually does this role) and by the group. There is a group repeat-after-이병옥 of some of the words (no longer used) so that pronunciation and delivery is correct. A lot of this focuses on 사처. If you drag it out it's a place for the dead, not a pigsty.

Then 김명하 runs through part of the scene as the shaman. Last year the shaman was 이영식, and I am not sure why it's changed. 김명하 will perform in the majority of the 12 acts-- my rough count has him delivery more lines and being on the stage more than anyone else.

There is a brief discussion of final bows (yes or no, carrying a mask, wearing a mask, in costume, only for those in the last scene, etc.). Should we do "fan service"? (Here they mean, should we offer a chance to take photos together when we've got our costumes on). This discussion often involves "다른 단체" (other groups...). And finally it is agreed that after the bow (where everyone is in the last costume they wore), there should be a period of group dance with the audience.

Everyone hesitated to leave, but I live so far away, I bowed and left quickly.

Research Projects

Ever since I got this job (a job that I am absolutely enjoying but being a first year professor with a full teaching load means a lot of class prep, all the time) I haven't had much time to work on my own research. Of course all professors say this, all the time. In fact, even the professors who only teach a couple of classes per semester and have taught the same darn classes several times over the years say this-- we all hope that means they're constantly updating and improving their classes (or it means their energy levels are slipping, or they've been side-tracked by concerns outside academia, or...).

At the moment I'm writing a blog to inspire myself to a more organized approach to my current research projects.

1). Conference Presentation Due in 32 Days (and an edited chapter version due to the reviewers shortly after that):
"Authenticity and Sexuality: The Foreign Dancing Body in Korean Popular Music Videos"
I'm excited about this one, but I'm having a hard time finding any mental energy to work on the background theoretical research for the paper. I want to bring in ideas about 'economics of attention' and racialization. I've ordered a bunch of fun looking books for the library on dance that should include some interesting ideas to incorporate and just need to find time to skim them to find those ideas! Just in case you're super interested, this paper brings attention to bear on K-pop videos released in the last 12 months, theorizing their use of obviously foreign bodies in three primary ways. Here are examples of the three types:

Taeyang's Ringa-Linga (Dance version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1y-4mXIL0
TVXQ's Something https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9HBT6sRSZ8
Gary's Shower Later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfuaDS-S2c
And here are a few of the visuals I'm using in the paper and presentation (I may change what all I use, but...)

2). Conference Presentation that may or may not be accepted for the fall:
"Yellow Ribbons: Performing Grief in the Wake of the Sewol Tragedy"
This paper doesn't just talk about grief (and anger) but specifically about how people's performance of grief was regulated by social pressures (and even by directives from their employers). It has, as you could predict a special focus on things that deal with actual performance, and the lens for the entire paper is a performance of Jindo Ssitgimgut (a ritual for the dead from the region where the ferry tragedy occurred) performed by performers who are not shamans, but refocused on the Sewol victims and decorated with yellow ribbons.

Here are a few random photos that I've started to collect to use in the paper.

3). I have an abstract submitted to be part of a conference panel this fall that I really expect to be accepted that I currently am considering folding into the paper above. The original paper, "Memory, Heritage, and Authenticity in Staged Shamanic Ritual: The Case of "O-Gu-Gut for Mr. Heo Chang-yeol" was going to be about non-shamans conducting shamanic ceremony as performance (and the larger topic of evolution of Korean traditional performance). I'm still really excited about the larger topic, but may take the specific performance named in the title out of the focal role for the paper.

4). The paper I presented at AAS needs to be revised. I was going to present this again in August, but instead I'm going to chair that panel and not present my paper. However, the AAS and the August panel at Kyujanggak are planning to collectively submit our work for journal publication as a themed issue-- I need to get my article finished as soon as possible to make sure this can happen! We even have a journal that's interested and should hear within a month if we're getting the go ahead from the editorial board.

I am sure I'll change the name, but this project is called:
"Framing Memory in Korea: State Ideologies in the Modern Museum" 
and just for consistency I was going to add some photos, but apparently they aren't roaming this computer.

5. Revising the English for consistency in a book for the National Gugak Center on Yeonhi- Korean Folk Theatre (this is ready for me, but I'm not ready till mid-June for it).

Those are the immediate projects. In addition to those I have several in-progress projects, all of which are losing steam under the class prep and mountain of grading to be done. I've also been asked to be part of some other projects, all of them sound so exciting and fascinating! I've got to stay busy, but it's pretty grand to spend all day, every day, doing what I want to do.

Changes to Traditional Theatre in Modern Korea

I was asked to write three entries in an upcoming publication called the Dictionary of Asian Theatre. This is my draft of one entry... the word count is practically killing me.

Changes to Traditional Theatre in Modern Korea

Three main primary reincarnations of traditional theatre in modern Korea have reimagined tradition in new ways: madanggeuk,yeonhigeuk, and changgeuk.

During the Korean pro-democracy movement activists became interested in re-appropriating Korean tradition from government control (as registered items of protected traditional culture), and to that end learned mask dance dramas and pungmul drumming. Motivated youth staged what appeared to be a traditional performance, but after a crowd had amassed and the show was underway, the traditional would often give way to a more explicit political message. Over time these young people realized that they no longer needed to clothe their politics within tradition and the genre madanggeuk was born. Through their connection with the democratization movement, these plays by and large focused on spoken and mimed messages. Due to performers’ background training in mask dance drama and pungmul and a desire to remain allied with Korean folk culture, their plays often incorporated traditional music and movement, with the players clad in Korean traditional clothing. In the present day many madanggeuk are performed without these elements, on a variety of themes limited only by the imagination of those involved. New members of madanggeuk troupes may never have learned pungmul or mask dance dramas, and although some troupes explicitly continue to incorporate tradition and train their members in these skills, others do not.

This madanggeuk performed by students of a women's university (not professionals) has lost almost all markers of tradition. 

This madanggeuk maintains the various traditional trappings, but the performers are not necessarily explicitly trained in traditional performance-- they employ the markers of tradition that are useful to evoke a country bumpkin aesthetic but the emphasis is on a humorous delivery of the story. When most Koreans picture madanggeuk they picture something like this.

             Although madanggeuk originally appeared to be the naturally evolving future of Korean traditional theatre, today yeonhi groups, or groups performing yeonhigeuk (yeonhi is a loose term for traditional folk theatre) have emerged. One reason for the resurgence of this term is the opening of a department in yeonhi at the Korean National University of the Arts. The department trains students in mask dance drama, pungmul, shamanic performance, and the skills of the traditional itinerant Korean performers, the Namsadang. Yeonhi groups, often including graduates of the university, have thorough traditional training and reassemble various traditions into full-length shows. Many yeonhi groups create new stories as a framework for presenting traditions they have learned. Instead of limiting themselves to one art or one genre (such as a single village’s pungmul style or one traditional folk dance), they combine styles and genres in a single show. This may include the lion dance from Bongsan’s mask dance drama, the spinning disks from Namsadang, drumming in a pan-regional style, and newly coined humorous dialogue delivered in a traditional style.

I really want to show you a specific video that perfectly encapsulates yeonhigeuk -- but for some reason I cannot embed it. Please visit it here.

Here is another example, this is of highlights from the yeonhi performance of "Good Morning Gut" by The Gwangdae

             Finally, changgeuk is the re-staging of the epic pansori tales that were originally sung by a solo singer accompanied by a drummer. In changgeuk, similar to an opera or a musical, each character is voiced by a different singer on an often elaborate set with props. Changgeuk were first staged in the early twentieth century and contributed to the ongoing success of the pansori genre by providing an alternative setting in which to hear the distinctive singing style. When staging pansori as changgeuk, the music expands from a single drummer to include multiple Korean traditional instruments, and other traditional arts such as dance may be presented in a scene only briefly described in the original tale. Newly composed changgeuk that are not based on the traditional pansori epics have been less successful.

This video is from a production of the National Changgeuk Company's performance of a changgeuk of the pansori tale of Shim Cheong. 

Bak Myeongsuk's "Hwanggeumgaji, Honja Nunddeuneun Achim II"

My friend Chae Haeri, an awe-inspiringly well-connected scholar of Korean dance, invited me to go to a  modern dance performance today. Generally speaking I have had quite a few experiences with Korean modern dance that left me disappointed (and a few, almost all choreographed by Ahn Eunme, that left me stunned and grateful to have eyes in my head). This has generally taught me to save my dance watching for traditional dance, and leave the modern dance choreographers(except Ahn Eunme) alone. But I went because there were reasonable expectations that it would be good on Haeri's part, at least.

The house was nearly packed, with a large number of people milling in the lobby (Haeri introduced me to some of them). Tickets were 20,000 (at least where we were sitting) but Haeri had been gifted with them, thanks be.

The show was uninspiring to say the least.

I was irritated by two issues:
1. the music, esp. in the first half was extremely over-powering. It included well known French chanson as well as well known Western songs (one was by the Beatles). The easily recognizable music dominated the performance, esp. at the volume at which it was played. Also the cuts from one song to the next were done with no finesse, they simply ended and then started at the beginning of the next song-- no blending or editing involved.
2. the female dancers were in many cases obviously instructed to use hairography-- they were whipping their hair around-- but not artfully as a punctuation, or frenetically for effect, but as if all big movements were supposed to also include a hair whip.

But by far the largest problem (aside from a lack of any conceptual through-line in the 1 hour 20 minute show) was that there was NOT ONE dancer who was eye-catching/mesmerizing/charismatic/highly skilled in such a way that you were drawn to watch them and ignore the others on stage. In a cast of over 20 dancers (only about 5 in the first half, the rest in the second half), there should have been at least some people so clearly talented that even with lame choreography they would shine. But no. Perhaps talented dancers detract from an effort to seem entirely mediocre.

There were moments when I found the lighting and background video images interesting, and a couple of movement sequences (never lasting more than twenty seconds) that I enjoyed, that brought me to momentary hopefulness... but this was never sustained.

After the show I went out to dinner with Haeri and a friend of hers who is a scholar of drama.

Baramgot Performance

July 14^th, 2011

Had class at Dankook University, the day started to feel like we were establishing a routine as a group, and we knew that we wouldn't have any more membership changes—our group is Amada, Caitlin (Theatre major), Chiayu, Hai, Abigail, Jessica (our only person with Korean heritage) and Alyssa. They're all really sweet. It's hard for some of them to do the type of reading I have assigned because they're not from the humanities, but they're all doing a great job trying. And they are learning the Bongsan Talchum motions faster than I expected, especially Hai.

In the evening I went to see 바람곳 Baramgot, a mixed fusion gugak group. Won Il is the artistic director and he plays 피리 piri and percussion for the group. There is also a 거문고 geomungo player, a 가야금 gayageum player, and a 대금 daegeum player, but the part that fascinates me and the songs I enjoyed the most were when they incorporated sitar (the sitar player also played percussion. The music was rather intellectual, and I definitely preferred certain pieces, esp. with the sitar, but it was all interesting. And there was a great guest performance by a group called 유희 spelled U-희(hee) which I think is stupid, but whatever. They're all Korean National University of the Arts graduates, all from the 연희학과 Folk Theatre Department. At the show I coincidentally ran into Lisa Kim Davis with a friend and also 기영 Giyeong. After the show I gave Won Il one of Karjam's CDs and we talked a bit more about him coming to play in Korea in October.

Mirong Performance

July 13^th, 2011

Wednesday is the day I don't have to teach at Dankook University. I was still plenty busy. I went to Joong-ang University and met professor Im Janghyeok again, he had some research center publications (not sold in bookstores, just like reports) I wanted to photocopy that he'd had at home the first time I went to see him. I think I like him (esp. after he suggested I should come to Joong-ang for a post-doc).

I went to meet Hilary Finchum-Sung to watch a performance of 미롱 "Mirong: Joseon Dynasty Dance Theatre" or something like that. It's not the type of show I normally go see (or Hilary) but 더 광대 The Gwangdae (one of 허창열 Heo Changyeol's groups) are a major part of the show, so we chose to go to support them. It was a love story between the adopted son of a court dance troupe and the female lead. The adopted father is pissed off by the love and cuts off the penis of the adopted son (played by 영욱 Yeong-uk one of the awesome Gwangdae players). The girl (who also sings) then cuts off her tongue after he leaves. The adopted son ends up joining the Gwangdae group and after the adopted father dies (of a stroke many years later) the two lovers meet by chance one more time. Yes, the story was that simple and since there was virtually no dialogue… and the court dance was boring- not much to look at, I was almost falling asleep except for when the Gwangdae were performing. And it was almost two hours long and 30,000 won (or 20,000 for students). I don't see why Koreans think this type of show is the way to go. The story could barely hold things together and part of the acting sections (such as when father is angry at the dancers for not doing it right and only praising the one girl) were just annoying. I don't want to listen to someone ragging on someone else for that long. It's just not pleasant. They couldn't really do much court dance, and what they did was most like 춘앵전 Chunaengjeon which is a freaking boring dance under any conditions. For the price I honestly think that most people just go the Gwangdae's performance out of it, and they could have done the performance themselves with their own (more complex) story and no wasted boring time on the court dance.

Anyway it's a 17 day run so I think it means the Gwangdae get a decent paycheck, and that's what I care about. After the show we ended up having dinner with Changyeol. It was good to be able to see Hilary and Changyeol, even if the show was a bit of a dud.

I had to go to the train station to pick up cupcakes (fresh baked and vegan!) sent me by Georgy (what a great friend), and as I was transferring trains I ran into 영훈 Yeonghun, a guy who lived two floors below me in 2003-4 school year at Lanzhou University!!! That was random and bizarre.

Catching Up

June 25^th, 2011

We went to the studio but really had nothing to do except talk a bit and take some commemorative photos.  In the afternoon I went to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli it was only 함Sr. and 함 Jr. who showed up (it was raining cats and dogs). However, it was still good, esp. because FINALLY I got Ham Wanshik (Sr.) to give me a nice long interview.

June 26^th, 2011

On Sunday after lots of computer time Karjam and I roamed the city with a video camera.

June 27^th, 2011

I did a lot of work on the computer and reading.

June 28^th, 2011

I went to Dankook University this morning and dropped off my reader pages.

I did some work on the computer and in the evening went to a dance performance because 박연식 and 손병만 were in one of the groups. To tell the truth I had not been looking forward to the performance. It was a big omnibus performance with four different teachers, 한혜경, 김은희, 진유림 and 이정희. I have seen one of them do a big show before and it was quite a waste of time, but this time the other three were okay, pretty good, and really good, so it was not a bad show overall.  The really good was 이정희, who was also the teacher and leader of the performance that Son Byeongman and Bak Yeonshik were in (each teacher did two performances, one solo and one group).

But what made the show for me was that I had the best seats I've ever had. Which is a bit of a story. Yeonshik had asked me (three times) how many (free) tickets I needed, and I'd told him two. I was a little chagrined when Karjam decided not to go, but he's been to a lot of Korean dance performances, and some haven't been so good, so I understood. I didn't have time for dinner, so I quickly found a 삼각김밥 when I got off the bus and ate it as a I walked to the hall. I got in about 10 minutes before the show. And Yeonshik had not gotten my ticket to the counter and processed, which meant that –after- I met up with him (you should have seen the make-up he had on! And the fake eyelashes so long they must have tickled his eyebrows.) I had to try to redeem a 초대권 invitation ticket for a real ticket, but the show was sold out… so no chance of that, except a bunch of people were mobbing the desk trying to be let in to sit on the floor in the aisles. I couldn't handle pushing, and was standing back and suddenly a woman I know from 봉천놀이마당 Bongcheon Noli Madang but had only met once ran over (everyone was already entering the theatre, since it was now 2 minutes to showtime) and asked if I was alone and gave me a ticket. It was a 30,000 won ticket in the center section 3 rows back from the stage!!! And she refused to take any money for it.

I would have stayed very happy if only after the show it hadn't been raining (and I had no umbrella) so I jumped on the first bus that came, but it was heading the opposite direction of what I thought and I ended up taking the LONG LONG LONG way home. 

Karjam and I Spend a lot of Time in the Studio

June 19^th, 2011

After working on my conference paper for several hours I headed to the 국악원 Gugakwon to meet up with 최해리 Choi Haeri, a dance researcher that professor 조경만 had introduced me to. The conversation was very fruitful and rewarding. Both because Haeri is really knowledgeable and intelligent and gave me great new information and shook loose some ideas that have been percolating in my skull, and also because I think we could become friends, certainly she's quick thinking, critical and intelligent, just the way I like my friends.

During our conversation even there was a constant stream of other people coming through because a performance was beginning at 5. I had tickets, as it was 진옥섭 Jin Okseop's big deal annual performance, and there were a lot of people I knew there, including 엄승용, 고석진, 손병만, 이병옥, 이수환 and many many more. After the bell had already started ringing to tell everyone to go in and find their seats Karjam finally arrived. I need to start telling him things start 30 minutes before they actually do. It really stresses me out when he's late.

The 30,000 won seats had been sold out when I got around to buying tickets (the entire show sold out!), and I decided 40 or 50,000 per seat was too much for me to justify, so we were in the 20,000 won seats on the third floor. Karjam was frustrated that he couldn’t see well enough. That's true, we couldn't. The show was interesting. I studiously recorded all of Jin Okseop's emceeing for later analysis. I need to go visit him and take a photo of him. His name will definitely be sprinkled throughout my dissertation. After the show a friend of Haeri's introduced me to one of the performers, but it wasn't the performer who had wowed me… not quite sure why Haeri thought I should meet her. Mid show 장사익 Jang Sa'ik had come up on stage and sung two songs. Karjam was even more blown away live than when we listen to Jang's music at home, so he insisted that I introduce him to Jang afterwards. Mind you, I've met Jang before and I'm a total fan, but that doesn't mean Jang knows me. Whatever, I'm ballsy enough to walk up to the most famous person in the lobby and say "my husband, a Tibetan singer, really wants to meet you." They took a photo together, exchanged cards and Jang invited Karjam to stop by for tea and Chinese noodles. Hmmm…. Should we really?

June 20^th, 2011

During the day Karjam and I hung out with 영훈 Yeonghun at the studio as he mixed some of Karjam's songs. Then I went to 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum. Class was interesting. We had two new students, both students majoring in 연극 drama, both at Bongsan Talchum because they strategically believed that learning a Korean way of moving (what the man said) and more about traditional theatre (what both said) would be useful for them in their future. Also this graduate student, 김현철 came back. He was in class in August and September, but was back now after the school year ended. He majored in 국악 Korean music for his undergrad and is now majoring in Music Education. I like him, but he looks like he's in high school. Speaking of, 현석's friend 동호,  attended his second class. And 미행 Mihaeng is back. She gave me some nice handmade soap. She's so negative I really wish she wasn't back, but she likes me, so… I'm torn. Oh and 윤희 Yunhee, the dancer, came back. It was a lively day. We practiced 7 monks and did 할미 Halmi (grandmother) only.

June 21^st, 2011 Summer Solstice

We had recording again today, with Hilary Finchum-Sung coming in the morning to record a violin track for "A Song for Tsemphel" (this title might change). The song is so sad, because Karjam's friend is serving a 15 year prison sentence for political reasons and Karjam misses him so much (and worries about Tsemphel's family). The song had already been quite good, but it didn't feel as sad as the lyrics. With the addition of Hilary's violin track the song really came alive. When we listened to the song after she was done both Karjam and I cried.

We had lunch with Hilary and then it was time to meet 김유나Kim Yuna. Originally we were going to have a special student of Hilary's Bitna do the 아쟁 ajaeng, but her grandmother got seriously sick, so Bitna introduced another ajaeng player. I've been emailing with Yuna but this was the first meeting. She was so cute in her black high heels, ruffled white blouse and black skirt. Her hair even was quite stylish. She had taken my injunction to be ready for the camera quite seriously. She needed more of Yeonghun's explanation than any other of the musicians so far, as it was her first time in the studio, but her expression of nervous delight to be putting on the headphones for the first time was just delightfully cute. Karjam and I stayed at the studio integrating Samkuchet's singing into the two songs (she sent files from Gannan) until nearly 8 pm.

Dongdaemun Market and KOUS

April 27^th, 2011

Karjam and I took mom to 동대문시장 Dongdaemun Market, Karjam bought her a modernized 한복 hanbok vest, it's really cool. We walked back along the 청계천 Cheonggyecheon, the awesome streamside park in central Seoul. Then in the evening I took mom to another performance, again dance at KOUS. It was so much less interesting than the previous week, but armed with her knitting (she hardly needs to ever look at it) mom stayed wide awake. I was struck by 진옥섭 Jin Okseop adopting a slightly more serious attitude, there were less jokes and more straightforward introductions to the pieces. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, I don't know.

The first piece, by 김진수 was really odd. First of all he was introduced as doing 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum but when I had first seen the poster for the series I was with 김은주 (Bongsan Talchum isuja) who looked at the poster photo (looking pretty much like Bongsan Talchum) and stated "I have no idea who this guy is." Neither the costume nor the mask looked quite 'right' to me and the motions were pretty different. Afterwards I ran into 고석진 in the hallway and I asked who he had come to see (김진수 and 최종실) so I asked him where 김진수 had learned Bongsan Talchum. He leaned in close to me and said "you know there are two types, the official and the unofficial." I would have asked more questions but right then another friend of his tapped him on the other shoulder, and mom was waiting.

Several were entirely forgettable but then 이민아 performed 승무 seungmu and I felt that she was powerful and expressive. The best two acts, though, were the last 정 란 performed an exquisite 입춤 ipchum, she was very saucy, as though she was making love to the audience. And 최종실 Choi Jongshil, professor of percussion at 중앙대 Jungang University, was awesome. I intend to interview him before long, it just hasn't happened yet. He performed 소고춤 sogochum which is a lot more exciting than it sounds when you see someone do it really well! He would crouch and hit the sogo and the stick on the floor, as well as hit the sogo with the stick, it was very dynamic. All sorts of awesome turns and twists and perfectly timed hits on the sogo. I had met about 9 of his students on the subway, all freshmen. Their department takes 15 a year, and only one was not doing traditional percussion (she was doing Western drum set style). Two of those on the subway were doing 상모/소고 sangmo/sogo as their specialty.  

Sangmo and a Performance

April 12^th, 2011

I went to 전통국악사 Traditional Korean Music Store and to 고려국악사 Goryeo Korean Music Store and picked up more ribbon for my sangmo and a fan for practicing the part of grandmother in 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum.

In the evening, as usual, I had 상모 sangmo class. Hyeonseok, Rimhan and I were the only students in class and Rimhan was late. I didn't have quite as good a rehearsal as the previous week, I think that the difference was not setting things up enough. Basically 이종휘 Yi Jonghui's line for the day was that he'd taught us all the steps, this step, that step, etc. and we should just run through them as we spun. Except we were spinning 바른사 counter-clockwise circles and 반대사 clockwise circles instead of doing 사사 1 ¾ circle left 1 ¾ circle right. It was harder doing counter-clockwise and very hard doing clockwise, Rimhan could barely do anything clockwise as his clockwise spin isn't there yet. Even counter-clockwise I find the transition into one step very hard and another step almost impossible to maintain (although I can do it with circles on both sides). At the end of class I video-taped Jonghui giving a mini-lesson in the basics. I'll put it up on my video section soon, but I won't make it publicly accessible link because it's not like he prepared to give a perfect lesson, it's just an on the spot thing.

Here is the video excerpt of me, I'll upload Yi Jonghui later.

April 13^th, 2011

I worked at home and at Chans Bros.

In the evening we went to a concert at the 국악원 National Gugak (Korean Music) Center. The concert had been billed as being a new way to introduce Korean traditional music, and of course I wanted to see how they'd do it and if it would be effective to reach the audience. The article I'd seen had not mentioned it was particularly targeted at families, but apparently it was, as the audience was mostly families.

There were two distinctly different things that they did: they had an announcer that was a "scientist" complete with an Einstein wig. He did little magic tricks and spoke in a very funny and affected manner. He did things like introduce all the instruments in funny and memorable ways. For example he introduced the 해금 haegeum and next when he introduced the 아쟁 ajaeng he said it was the haegeum on steroids, the haegeum's big brother (both are bowed, but the haegeum is like a little 2 string violin in size and the ajaeng is 5 feet long with multiple strings). Each instrument played a little snippet designed to capture the audience attention. Most were children's songs or pop songs or Western songs, not Korean traditional songs. The other thing they did was they had three compositions which they introduced through a Korean genre painting and a poetic/story of historic Korea. The announcer for those had one of those perfect radio classical music DJ voices. There were a total of 3 ensemble pieces (one was the first piece then the two last pieces were ensemble) and they were introduced by Einstein and in the middle were three compositions for between 2 and 4 instruments. All the pieces were new compositions, not traditional music. The best part was the amazing 거문고 geomungo player. 

Performances at KOUS

March 30^th, 2011

We sent Hengyi Shr and her mother back to Taiwan, or at least to the airport, on a bus departing at 5:50 this morning.

Met Jisoo for more hashing over the meaning of the last bit of the translation, and we took these cell phone photos to show our work scene.

I convinced home-body Karjam to go to a dance performance at KOUS, and when I was in the hallway waiting for the show one of the workers introduced 진옥섭 Jin Okseop to me, I got his card and an agreement to do an interview later. That's awesome. But even in the short conversation he insisted that no one knew more than he did about the topic of my dissertation. Which is a sort of arrogant thing to say. Dude, I already asked to interview you, obviously I think you know enough to be worth an interview and you can talk about it at length during the interview. I was also sort of surprised how short he is. I've only talked to him in person one time before (in October) and I'd forgotten that I am a good 7 inches taller.

The performance was pretty good. We had the "bad" seats, which are still fabulous because KOUS is such a small intimate hall. I took a few photos during the show, too. Karjam's favorite performance was that of the 살풀이 salpuri dancer 이문이Yi Munyi. I also thought Yi was very good, my favorite (unexpectedly) was 고재현Go Jaehyeon who performed 입춤 Ipchum. I was also impressed by 강은영 Gang Eunyeong, the 진도북춤 Jindobukchum dancer who I'd most wanted to see in the evening's line-up. Karjam claimed that the way she danced and the way I dance are very similar. Most of the other performances were good, but I felt that the performance of 승무 seungmu by ChaeSangmok and 한량무 hallyangmu by Choi Taeseon were of a lesser quality- ironically the only two performances by men in the evenings 8 dancer line-up. 

Sogo Chum

Salpuri

Ipchum

Jindo Bukchum