The main purpose of this study is to conduct an interpretation of Korean cultural identity in dance and its historical traces through an exploration of the unique Korean emotional quality of Han and its significance and embodiments in five well-known dance pieces (Seung-mu, Salpuri-chum, Gasahojeop, Naerimsaeyeo, and Salpuri-80), within the traditional and contemporary ideologies and cultural contexts of Korea.; Specifically, this study looks at the relationship between Han and the five dances which have been created in the midst of distinct historic and cultural contexts. For this purpose, the following points are examined within each dance, characterization and representation of Han; the historical, political, and cultural interpretation of the meanings of Han; the role of Han as a representative cultural aesthetic; and the transformation of Han in Korean dancing culture.; This study engages a combination of interdisciplinary methodological approaches and theoretical concerns from both, Korean and Western literatures within the fields of dance ethnology and cultural studies as well as Korean dance, folklore, aesthetics, and history. The various methods employed to take up this study include, field work, oral history interviews, LMA (Laban Movement Analysis) and video documentation and the researcher's own experience as a dance practitioner.; The findings from the analytical reading of dance activities as cultural practices and their relation to the concept of Han are various: new interpretations of the political, social, and cultural meanings of the dances through their particular use of Han; diverse understandings of their concealed meanings regarding the discourses on nationalism, imperialism, and multi-culturalism; and their role as social and political reporter and critical and cultural interpreter of the social issues and historical tragedies of the people.; The use of the five dances' common and distinctive movement qualities characterizing the different personalities of Han during different historical periods and movement styles indicates that the spiritual and cognitive concept of Han has endured as a Korean cultural aesthetic and ethos. In contemporary Korea, Han functions as an aesthetic beauty of sadness which is transformed through emotional and spiritual catharsis.; The cultural and artistic realm of the dance representations of Han show that Han has become a unique Korean cultural identity shaped by the complex socio-cultural predicaments of Korea and an embodiment of the symbolic meanings of the people, society, and history of Korea.
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