Renowned Korean Dance Pioneer Kim Baekbong Passes Away

Founder of Korean Modern Dance Including 'Buchaechum' and 'Hwaggwanmu'
Leading Disciple of Pioneer Choi Seunghee and Influential in East-West Korean Dance... Professor at Kyung Hee University Training Disciples

Kim Baek-bong (member of the National Academy of Arts of Korea), a dancer who led the renaissance of Korean traditional dance, passed away on the afternoon of the 11th at the age of 97.

He was the founder of (Fan Dance) and (Crown Dance), and a great star in the Korean dance world. Song Beom, former director of the National Dance Company of Korea, said, "It is impossible to discuss Korean traditional dance without Kim Baek-bong, and especially group dance was shaped under his influence." He was a disciple of Choi Seung-hee, a pioneer of modern Korean dance, and also her personal spouse. If Choi Seung-hee, Jo Taek-won, and Han Seong-jun were pioneers of 20th-century Korean dance, Kim Baek-bong is credited with opening the renaissance era of Korean dance.

He was born in 1927 in Pyongyang, South Pyongan Province. In 1943, as a member of the Choi Seung-hee Dance Troupe, he toured Japan, Manchuria, China, and various Southeast Asian countries. In 1944, he married An Je-seung (1928?1998), the younger brother of An Mak, Choi Seung-hee’s husband. In 1946, after defecting to the North with Choi Seung-hee, he worked in Pyongyang as the principal dancer and deputy director of the Choi Seung-hee Dance Troupe, as well as a resident choreographer. When the Korean War broke out, he defected to the South with his husband and established the Kim Baek-bong Dance Research Institute in Seoul in 1953.

Dancer Kim Baekbong, who led the renaissance of Korean traditional dance. Photo by Kim Baekbong Dance Preservation Society

In 1954, at the Sigonggwan in Seoul (currently the Myeongdong Arts Theater of the National Theater of Korea), he presented the creative dance works and at the Kim Baek-bong Dance Presentation. These dances have since established themselves as representative Korean dances. In particular, was showcased at Expo '70 and the 1972 Munich Olympics, gaining worldwide attention and solidifying its status as a representative Korean dance. was designated a masterpiece dance in 1992 and was registered as the No. 3 intangible cultural asset of South Pyongan Province in 2014.

Afterwards, from 1965, Kim Baek-bong served as a professor in the Department of Dance at Kyung Hee University until his retirement in 1992. In 1995, the Kim Baek-bong Dance Preservation Society was established. He also served as honorary professor at the Korea National University of Arts Dance Department, honorary professor at Kyung Hee University Dance Department, and as the 5th director of the Seoul City Dance Company.

He received the Seoul City Cultural Award in 1953, the Cambodian Cultural Medal, the National Academy of Arts Award, the Bogwan Cultural Medal in 1981, and the Presidential Award in 1988 for his contribution to the pre-ceremony events of the Seoul Olympics. In 1999, he was selected as an "Artist Who Shone in the 20th Century," and later received the Eun-gwan Cultural Medal in 2005, the Best Master Award Honoring Korea in 2016, and the 58th March 1st Cultural Award for Arts in 2017.

Dancer Kim Baekbong, who led the renaissance of Korean traditional dance. Photo by Kim Baekbong Dance Preservation Society

His major works include and , as well as , , and . He also recreated Choi Seung-hee’s Bodhisattva Dance in , and produced dance dramas such as , , , , and .

His surviving family includes his son An Byeong-cheol (director of Kyung Hee Cheong Korean Medicine Clinic), dancer An Byeong-ju (head of the Dance Department at Kyung Hee University), An Na-kyung (chairperson of the Kim Baek-bong Dance Research Association), and son-in-law Jang Seok-ui. The funeral is being held at the special room No. 1 of the Shinchon Severance Hospital funeral hall, with the funeral procession scheduled for the 14th.