Busan Traditional Music Drama 'Dance Wind Bunday', Where Tradition Meets the Present

As the performance began, the post-liberation Busan Port hillside unfolded on stage. The story starts when a street vendor named Lee Bom, who was making a living by pushing a handcart, accidentally meets the spirit of the Dongnae Hak Dance master, Kim Jeong-man. Although the setting is unrealistic, the stage vividly captured the reality of Busan in 1946.

Dongnae Market, Busan coastline, shipyard, Beomeosa Temple, Busan Station, Dongnae Hot Springs, Yeongdo Bridge. Places known to anyone from Busan appeared in succession, evoking memories of the city. The stage design symbolically expressed the characteristics of each location without being excessive. The lives of Busan people, who continued to live amidst the chaos of the post-liberation era, were conveyed through dance, song, and dialogue.

The Elegance of the Crane Created by Slow Dance Movements

The Dongnae Hak Dance performed on stage moved slowly to the rhythm of the gutgeori beat. The wide sleeves of the white robe resembled the large wings of a crane, and wearing a robe made of silk further highlighted the Hak Dance. With each step, the robe's hem filled with air and puffed up, and with each lift of the arms, the sleeves drew elegant curves.

The Dongnae Hak Dance is a representative traditional dance of Busan, designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 3 of Busan Metropolitan City in 1972. This dance, performed during the Dongnae Yaryu or rope-pulling on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, is danced wearing a hat with the everyday robe without creating a special costume. The uniqueness lies in the fact that the dance attire is the everyday clothing of the yangban class. The clothing for dance is not a costume but everyday wear.

Interestingly, the formal and somewhat uncomfortable robe completes the aesthetics of the Dongnae Hak Dance. Since the robe is a very formal outfit, it can be uncomfortable to move in. This constraint creates slow and restrained movements, which became the essence of expressing the crane's dignity and elegance.

In 'Dance Wind Bunday', the Dongnae Hak Dance transcends mere reproduction of traditional dance. The process of Lee Bom learning the Hak Dance and changing shows that dance is not just a physical gesture but an experience that changes one's attitude toward life. The scene where the street vendor regains his dignity through the Hak Dance symbolizes the power that art can give to individuals.

The Amazing Flexibility of Traditional Costumes

The witty remarks of Kim Jun-ho, the honorary holder of Dongnae Jisinbalgi, burst out intermittently during the performance. He naturally conveyed the language and emotions of Busan people right after liberation, giving the audience a sense of familiarity. The music, composed and arranged by Shin Dong-il, harmonized traditional rhythms with a modern sensibility.

While watching the performance, I suddenly thought of the recently popular 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' and the Lion Boys. In this animation, which took the world by storm through Netflix in 2025, the protagonists also appear wearing hats. It was surprising that the same traditional costume fits perfectly in the slow and elegant dance of the Dongnae Hak Dance and in the intense choreography of the Lion Boys.

The Lion Boys, dressed in black outfits with hats, perform powerful numbers like 'Soda Pop' and 'Your Idol', proving the strength of K Culture by topping the U.S. iTunes album chart and TikTok Korea chart. Canadian director Maggie Kang, of Korean descent, grew up watching first-generation K-pop like Seo Taiji and Boys, and infused images from Korean folklore and traditional tales into the work.

The fact that the same traditional elements, the hat and robe, can be utilized in such different contexts shows the flexibility and expansiveness of Korean traditional culture. The white robe of the Dongnae Hak Dance maximizes elegance in a slow tempo, while the black outfit and hat of the Lion Boys exude charisma over a fast beat. This is a case that proves tradition is not a fixed form but a living culture that can be reinterpreted according to the times and situations.

The Modern Value of Local Cultural Heritage

The motif of this work was taken from the oral history of the late Moon Jang-won (1917-2012), the holder of Dongnae Yaryu. It records that in 1946, to commemorate the first March 1st after liberation in 1945, the Dongnae Yaryu was restored and a dance performance was held. This traditional music drama, which adds fictional characters and stories based on historical facts, reinterprets Busan's cultural heritage in contemporary language rather than merely preserving it.

Just as the hat-shaped keyring and Hojakdo merchandise from the National Museum of Korea became popular among 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' fans as 'unofficial K-Demon Hunter merchandise', the audience who watched 'Dance Wind Bunday' also developed a new interest in the intangible cultural heritage of Busan, the Dongnae Hak Dance and Dongnae Yaryu. The global spread of K Culture is creating a virtuous cycle that paradoxically leads to a rediscovery of our traditional culture.

The stage created by director Ahn Kyung-mo, scriptwriter Kyung Min-seon, and choreographers Kim Soo-hyun and Bok Mi-kyung maintained a good balance between tradition and modernity. It preserved the essence of the Dongnae Hak Dance while having a narrative structure that modern audiences can understand and relate to.

Since its opening in 2008, the National Busan Gugak Center has continued to inherit and modernize traditional performing arts in the Yeongnam region. 'Dance Wind Bunday' is one of the fruits of that effort. When the history and culture of the region are reborn as an artistic work, tradition becomes a living culture rather than a relic in a museum.

As I left the performance hall, the slow movements of the Dongnae Hak Dance lingered in my mind. Just like a crane spreading its wings and soaring into the sky, traditional art can also approach people living in the present with new meanings. Just as the Hak Dance, which began in Busan in 1946, continues to breathe on stage in 2025, tradition constantly changes and maintains its vitality, transcending slowness and speed, the past and the present, the local and the global.