As mankind has lived by forming community, it has peculiar lifestyle and culture, which were formed naturally within its community during long time. As the whole of lifestyle, the culture both reveals universal aspect in all the communities over the whole of human life such as religion, art, and politics, and expresses the peculiarly and specially cultural pattern to each community. Even among those things, the art is the representation mode of condensing and containing a human being's value, emotion, and feeling, thereby being able to be said to be the most refined form. Especially, the dance as language of gesture is the art that delivers a human being's thought, feeling, and emotion and that expresses its beauty, thereby vividly containing its historical situations and even atmospheres, in which the dance has created, changed and developed. Thus, dance has evolved and developed repeatedly as modern art while continuously maintaining always dynamic relationship in tradition and creation as a historical flow shows as if being river water.
What is symbol plays an important role within all the cultures of containing religion or art. Those that a human being desire to show come to be revealed specifically through this symbol. Also, symbol creates spectrum in diverse meanings by showing vitally the contents that are not seen and revealed. Traditional symbol in art is not only followed, but also involved continuously in composition and embodiment in aesthetic value by being newly created by artist.
From this symbolic perspective, the cultural system called dance expresses emotion peculiar to the race by concentrating the life and the social & cultural properties in racial members, who had lived in each period. Given seeing in this aspect, Seungmu(Buddhist dance), which shows the essence of aesthetics in Korean traditional dance, cannot be denied by anybody that it condenses emotion peculiar to our race. Furthermore, in Seungmu enough to be called one phenomenon, something exists that transcends Western-styled structure of grasping dance simply as an external form of physical behavior.
Accordingly, this study was progressed with the aim of solidifying the dance-history based position in Seungmu as the highlight of Korea's traditional dance, by extracting elements of symbolic expression immanent in Seungmu and by analyzing Korean-styled emotion, which is contained inside it. Ultimately, this study was started from the aim of closely examining core significance that was shown in Seungmu, resulting in having been specified as what seeks for true value immanent in Seungmu. Through such specific and systematic work, this study could obtain the following conclusions.
First, Seungmu(Buddhist dance) is the essence of Korean traditional dance that condensed the internal image of the original art. The peak of peculiarly racial style is maximized and expressed through Seungmu. The ultimate beauty is displayed in making a feeling as if hazy nebula was shown around the body, by which the movement gets faster while beating a drum with holding a drumstick later after the long lower edges of a Buddhist monk´s robe in Seungmu are embodied as if being the sublime wing in crane or the cloud. Especially, the attraction in Seungmu can be said to be composition in its dance that is united the heavy and dark part and the bright and energic part in multi-level. The feeling, which gets brighter in the process of developing Seungmu, is in clear confrontation with image in dark and heavy part, which is progressed before. Thus, the effect is produced that increases more dynamic and active joy. This just deserves to be said to be expression technique in high dimension of Seungmu, which symbolizes beauty inside a human being and its emotion.
Second, in Seungmu, the whole symbolism is being given every development in dance movement. This can be seen to be the process that Seungmu gives any meaning to each dance movement and formalizes it. Symbol, which is shown in Seungmu, is functioning in order to be possibly observed the mental value or the meaning beyond temporal space, by embodying a human being's image that has each different aspect according to time and space. Symbolic expression in Seungmu is not what ends up in imitation of revival, which directs objects and delivers facts, but is embodied so that mental ideas can be maximized and flown inside dance. Also, it can be said that the embodiment in ideas or the conceptual action in ideas, which is the in-depth psychological process, is accepted inside it.
Third, the symbolically expression elements in Seungmu can be tried to be analyzed by dividing into the symbolic expression in a shape, the symbolization in an idea, and the symbolic expression as sign. First of all, the symbolic expression in a shape can be segmented into the embodiment of natural matter and the embodiment of image. Dance movements, which well reveal the symbolic expression in a shape, include facing-down dance movement, Hakche style, bouncy walk, fish-tale, and Yeonpungdae(courtyard circling). The symbolization in an idea can be said to be what shows a symbol on grief, rather than meaning what expresses a shape simply. Dance movements in the movement of throwing about, the movement of tying and untying, stretching arms, and Peoneomgigi are great in the intention of making it disclosed by adding any internal meaning, rather than reviving literally. The symbolic expression element as a sign, which is shown in Seungmu, can be said to have the same context as the Thought of Eumyangohaeng(陰陽五行:theories of yin and yang and the five elements of the earth) in the Orient. Also, Seungmu has deep relationship even with Cheonjiin(天地人earth and humans are one earth and humans are one) Hapilsasang(合一思想). The thought is melted down as saying that all the Samramansang(森羅萬象: all creations) is operated itself, grown and developed by becoming one in which the heaven, which is Yang, the earth, which is Yin, and a human being's role as a mediator between them are added. Dance movements in Seungmu, in which energy flows in the form from Yin to Yang based on this ideological background, are being ascended a flow of energy with the movement in which a Buddhist monk´s robe is gathered downward and then scattered upward. Given observing closely the movement of the upper body with the same context, the attribute of being lowered and spread is being indicated.
Fourth, Mubok(舞服:shaman's clothes) is expressing its beauty by allowing Obangsaek(五方色), which is Korean traditional colors, to be harmonized, based on the Thought of Eumyangohaeng. Our traditional color culture, which can be captured in Mubok of Seungmu, is reflecting our natural environment and racial thought and disposition. It has developed while maintaining complex and exquisite relationship. Mubok of Seungmu has formed unique flow while being influenced by cultural factors, which each period has, in the middle of long history. This flow has been continued so far even if being vaguely.
Given summarizing to synthesize Korean-styled emotion that was shown in Seungmu, those are as follows. First of all, Seungmu points to what comes to be free from all the secular things. This can be analyzed to be the process of seeking for true ego, and makes it available for knowing that Seungmu focuses on free expression of emotion rather than being bound to external shape. Here is included Jayeonhoegwi(自然回歸:return to nature), namely, our traditional view of nature with the aim of returning to nature in the original place, and the Buddhist Thought with the aim of not adhering to the mundane world while having its root in the internal essence and belief. Also, in Seungmu, Korean's nature can be discovered in which our race's peculiar elegance and humor are immanent. Ultimately, it can be known that Korean-styled emotion is based deeply, above all, in the foundation of philosophy and beauty on nature and life that Seungmu has.
This study aimed to clarify that dance movement in Seungmu is not the one that ends up in the technical and superficial expression, which is simply shown seemingly, but is the mental expression in which a human being's mind and body become one, and the symbolic expression of its general phenomenon. Additionally through diverse symbolic expressions immanent in dance movement of Seungmu, it closely examined vitally that Seungmu enough to be said to be essence of Korean traditional dance is 'dance of pointing to the universe and nature and of having temporality in eternity.
This is the time that will need to clearly grasp Korean-styled emotion, which is revealed in today's traditional dance, and mental value inside it, based on symbolism of this Seungmu. And, based on this, there will be necessity for making it confirmed again that what is Korean style leads to what is global through the motion that our peculiar tone and beauty are sublimed in reanalyzing and creating Korean traditional dance.