The Dance History Documentation Society Hosts Academic Conference "Dance Reflecting the Era, Reexamining Modern Dance"

100 Years of Modern Dance: Exploring Future Development Directions
Chairman Kim Seonjeong "Expecting Integrated Discourse on Theory and Practice"

The Dance History and Documentation Society (President Kim Seonjeong, Professor of Dance at Dankook University) will hold its 25th academic conference under the theme "Dance Reflecting the Era: Re-examining Modern Dance." The event will take place on Saturday, September 16th, at 1 PM, at Gemma Hall, Sookmyung Women's University, 2nd Changhak Campus, Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Choi Eungcheon, Commissioner of the Cultural Heritage Administration, and Cho Namgyu, Chairman of the Korea Dance Association, will attend and deliver congratulatory remarks.

Professor Han Kyungja of Kangwon National University will serve as the chair for the conference, which will feature a keynote presentation by Professor Emeritus Kim Unmi of Hanyang University titled "Modern Dance: What and How Should We View It?" Following this, presentations will be given by Anna Kyung, Chairperson of the Kim Baekbong Dance Research Association; Choi Haeri, Chairperson of the Korea Dance Culture Resource Center; Kim Yunsu, Visiting Professor at Sungkyunkwan University; and Shim Jeongmin, President of the Korean Dance Critics Association.

Lecturers and professors including Kim Suin from Kyung Hee University, Kim Sunjeong from Sungshin Women's University, Park Gihyun from Kangwon National University, Yang Mina, Research Professor of History at Chung-Ang University, Lee Jooyoung, Adjunct Professor at Korea University, Lim Sujeong from the National Gyeongsang University, Cho Kyunga, Academic Research Professor at Korea National University of Arts, and Cha Sujeong from Sookmyung Women's University will participate in the discussion.

The Dance History and Documentation Society was formed in 2014 through the merger of the Dance Documentation Society and the Dance History Society, making it the largest dance organization in Korea. It is composed of about 150 directors and lifetime members, centered around 20 vice presidents who are active professors in university dance departments and educators in the field. Notably, this society aims for practical research integrating theory and practice.

This year's academic conference is a meaningful event as it was the only dance-related project selected for support by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea's academic society support program. Professor Choi Hyunju of Sangmyung University, chair of the academic subcommittee, explained the significance: "Modern dance has reached its 100th anniversary. We have created a forum to diagnose and predict the perceptions it has influenced among dancers and the newly forming paradigm of Korean arts, discussing various changes and future directions for dance creation and transmission."

Kim Seonjeong, President of the Dance History and Documentation Society, stated, "Through this academic conference, I hope dancers will once again reflect on the spirit of dance. I look forward to practical discourse on the integration of theory and practice."