놀이, 신명, 몸 - 한국문화의 정체성을 찾아서 -

Abstract

The playful characteristic of mask dance, called Sinmyoung, is caused by mask, dance and place, which are elements of this genre. A performer can arouse the desire on Sinmyoung with hidden playful characteristic through the power of mask. Dance means real play, acted by body. The performers live each own subjective and independent life in every action of mask dance. At last they experience absolute sense of freedom and liberty. The performer and audience can communicate naturally in the place of mask dance. As the audience also has multiple or almighty views, and the performer's action changes the map of the drama, it makes the drama opened and dynamic.

The playful characteristic of mask dance, Sinmyoung performance, is different with any other drama in Asian and Western countries. Western drama pursues catharsis, Indian drama, rasa, and Korean drama tries aesthetic effect, Sinmyoung. As seen in the comparison with Western and Indian drama, the mask dance has unique characteristic and structure of Korean drama among other genres. It shows that Korean thought and philosophy are in the principal of the mask dance. The mask dance maximizes the playful characteristic, called Sinmyoung or Sinmyoung performance. And it is not only one of the popular plays, but it also has the essence of Korean culture that tries to communicate with human, world, and universe (the gods of heaven and earth) through Sinmyoung.