- published: 12 Aug 2015
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The current political separation of North and South Korea has resulted in divergence in modern Korean cultures; nevertheless, the traditional culture of Korea is historically shared by both states.
As with music, there is a distinction between court dance and folk dance. Common court dances are jeongjaemu (정재무) performed at banquets, and ilmu (일무), performed at Korean Confucian rituals. Jeongjaemu is divided into native dances (향악정재, hyangak jeongjae) and forms imported from Central Asia and China (당악정재, dangak jeongjae). Ilmu are divided into civil dance (문무, munmu) and military dance (무무, mumu). Many mask dramas and mask dances are performed in many regional areas of Korea. The traditional clothing is the genja, it is a special kind of dress that women wear on festivals. It is pink with multiple symbols around the neck area.
Traditional choreography of court dances is reflected in many contemporary productions.
The earliest paintings found on the Korean peninsula are petroglyphs of prehistoric times. With the arrival of Buddhism from India via China, different techniques were introduced. These techniques quickly established themselves as the mainstream techniques, but indigenous techniques still survived.