Understanding culture through movement

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Yi Yun-sok, right, leads a Korean dance class at McCoy Pavilion. Yi says it's the spirit of the dance that he tries to convey — a spirit that's international. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser Kosong Ogwandae Korean masked dance-drama Presented by the UH-Manoa Outreach College and Department of Theatre and Dance, and the East-West Center 5 p.m. tomorrow, East-West Center Friendship Circle Free 956-8246, 944-7177

It's hard work, this business of cultural shape-shifting.

Funny, you say, it looks more like Korean dancing. And it is.

But there's an understanding of culture that can come from dance, said Judy Van Zile, University of Hawai'i dance professor. So if part of the mission of presenting Korean masked dance-drama is cultural exchange, she said, there are better ways of learning culture than simply sitting and watching.

"I think the performing arts is a powerful way to introduce people to culture," said Van Zile, who coordinated the dance class series and Saturday's Kosong Ogwandae performance at the East-West Center Friendship Circle. "When you dance, when you move, even if nobody's telling you about the culture, you're feeling it.

Van Zile said that masked dance-drama, like commedia dell'arte, is a theatrical style that's broad and sometimes comical, an enactment of stories about the foibles of the upper-crust society — exactly what the lower crust likes to see ridiculed. The Honolulu concert will consist of scenes depicting a leper, ruined aristocrats and a fallen Buddhist monk.

"I have seen this kind of dance-drama, and it involves a tremendous amount of movement, where in other kinds, there's more text," she added. "Because it relies on dance and mime, it is more accessible to people who don't know Korean."

Some of the students at this community class (there were courses for students at UH and Kaimuki High School as well) were Korean-born, know the language and have some passing acquaintance with dance. But this particular style comes from the village of Kosong, Van Zile said, and even those who lived in South Korea find the chance to learn it a rare treat.

Yi Yun-sok, the teacher, manages to communicate with the English speakers through interpreter Charles Hill, and through the force of his charismatic personality. Animated and energetic even when sleep deprived (he sent out for coffee, extra sugar), Yi said it's the spirit of the dance he tries to convey — and it's a spirit that's international.

"It's not because you're Korean that you understand this, it's because you're a human being," he said, speaking through Hill. "It's almost an instinct that's in all folk cultures of the world to express this kind of spirit."

Everyone leaves these classes knowing at least one Korean expression: "Shin myong!" Yi often says it to a student while both of them raise their arms and slap hands. It means something like an "effusive overflow of feeling, an ecstasy," he said.

If the life blood of this art isn't religious, it's at least spiritual, said Joe Miller, one of the participants.

"I teach world religions," he said. "I thought it would be a way to connect spiritually through a physical activity.

"It's a different use of language, almost liturgical, with a call and response," he added. "This, for me, is an awakening."

Reach Vicki Viotti at 525-8053 or vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.