Dancing Backwards:
Researching the History of
Korean Dance in Hawai‘i

Judy Van Zile

Professor of Dance
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

Thursday, May 9, 2002

The Hawaiian Historical Society invites its members and friends to a special program, “Dancing Backwards: Researching the History of Korean Dance in Hawai‘i,” presented by Professor Judy Van Zile. The program will take place Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Refreshments will be available at 7:00 p.m. A business meeting and the program will follow at 7:30 p.m. The Society’s annual business meeting will be held before the program to present the president’s report for 2001–2002 and elect new trustees and a new president for 2002–2003. The program is free, and the public is invited.

  

Van Zile’s slide and videotape presentation will focus on the stages she went through in gathering information about the history of Korean dance in the Islands. She began her studies of Korean dance at the University of Hawai‘i when she joined its faculty in 1971. Her research included a period as a student at the Halla Huhm Dance Studio, travels to Korea for further studies, conversations with people of Korean ancestry of all ages in the Islands, and hours of poring through newspaper articles, archives, and private scrapbooks.

In her lecture, she will discuss key stages in the development of Korean dance in the Islands and describe the pathways she took in arriving at important understandings. Her focus on Korean dance in the Islands is contextualized against the role of dance among the many immigrant groups that compose Hawai‘i’s population.
Judy Van Zile is professor of dance at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A specialist in movement analysis and Asian dance, Van Zile recently published her extensive research on Korean dance in book form in Perspectives on Korean Dance, issued by Wesleyan University Press (2001). She continues to do research on various aspects of Korean dance and frequently returns to Korea.

For further information about the program, contact the Hawaiian Historical Society, 560 Kawaiaha‘o Street, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813. Telephone: (808) 537-6271. E-mail: hhskaren@lava.net.

[ Home | Search ]