강강술래

Ganggangsullae (Korean: 강강술래) is an ancient Korean dance that was first used to bring about a bountiful harvest and has developed into a cultural symbol for Korea. It incorporates singing, dancing, and playing and is exclusively performed by women. The dance is mostly performed in the southwestern coastal province of South Jeolla Province. It is often associated with the Chuseok holiday and Daeboreum and is performed when the full moon rose above the mountains They dance all night and continue to play folk games in circles. The performance starts with a late Ganggangsullae and changes to a 'Jajeun-Ganggangsullae', which are characterized by the most beautiful and feminine charms of late Ganggangsullae, and 'Jung-Ganggangsullae" only in Haenam and Jindo regions. The dance was registered as the UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage from Korea in 2009. ²

The etymology of Ganggangsullae is not clear, however the term's origins can be guessed by interpreting the name in either indigenous Korean or Hanja characters. Some theorize that the term was derived from the indigenous Korean words, in which 'Gang' of Ganggangsullae means circle and 'sullae', which derived from the words 'sunu' or 'sulla', means a wagon or to alert. In combination, the term means to wagon or alert around in circle. Additionally, in the Jeolla dialect, 'ganggang' translates to 'surroundings' or 'in circles', and 'sullae', meaning 'patrol'. This interpretation frames 'ganggangsullae' means to "Beware of your surroundings". Others suggests that the word Ganggangsullae was a hanja phrase meaning "a powerful barbarian is going to invade our country", given it was a chant to make the public aware of enemy invaders. This meaning was derived from the history of the naval commander Yi Sun-sin utilizing ganggangsullae in military strategy, but there is little evidence to support this theory. ²

The dance is thought to have originated in ancient times when the ancient Koreans believed that the Sun, Moon, and Earth controlled the universe. Participants would dance under the brightest full moon of the year in order to wish for a fertile harvest. Actually, Ganggangsullae is still held in Korea's most common festivities such as New Year's Day, Daeboreum, Dano, and Chuseok. Since Chuseok has its largest size of the moon of the year, the dance itself is considered as a notable event on Chuseok holidays by dozens of young women dancing and singing all together. ²

Before Joseon, Goryeo dynasty maintained liberal atmosphere of trade and communications under the strong power of Buddhism. Newly founded dynasty Joseon needed to rebuild the country in a different manner, which called for another national policy - Confucianism. Under the strict Confucian influence expansion, the female status started to degrade sharply, resulting in more difficulties and obstacles for even noble women. For example, women should wear long hood by covering all the face and head while going out of house is not allowed. Under this kind of social atmosphere, the dance gave women the chance to go outside and sing together away from invisible restraints. In the 16th century, during the Japanese invasion of Korea, Admiral Yi Sun-sin ordered women to do this dance in military uniform to intimidate the Japanese. The women were said to have dressed in military uniform and danced on Mount Okmae (옥매산). The Japanese scouts thus overestimated the strength of the Korean troops. ²

Nowadays, Ganggangsullae is passed down to younger generations in music class at local schools and students can learn how to perform folk dance, including the origin of the artistic movement, exercising melody skills. Notably, there is an instance that the Korean dance is getting into the pop culture. The Korean pop group ATEEZ, for example, includes Ganggangsullae in their performances featuring the movement and general references of Korean culture. ²

It is the main action of Ganggangsullae, which is spinning counterclockwise. ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ganggangsullae”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

Ganggangsullae is Korean circle dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹