Dance Studies’ Perspective of Folklore and Intangible Heritage

The research examined the distinction between folk dance and Intangible Cultural HeritageDance in dance studies. Currently, research on folk dance in the dance field remains at the levelof ethnography. In this situation, it is very difficult to find the difference between folk dance andIntangible Cultural Heritage Dance. In response, the researcher looked at the similarities anddifferences between them based on the concepts defined in folklore. As a result, the subject ofstudy and basic concepts of folk dance and Intangible Cultural Heritage Dance are related, butthe perspectives of looking at the objects reveal the contrast.In view of the differences, the folk dance naturally repeats the cycle structure of creation,change, and destruction to suit the ecological environment. It has been formed, changed, anddeveloped by natural, historical, and social atmospheres, and dances that local communities didnot prefer during that period have disappeared, and preferred dances have been transformed,evolved, and extended. In other words, the law of survival of the fittest of the natural world alsoapplies to folk dance. However, Intangible Cultural Heritage Dance is one of the most valuablefolk dances to be inherited, and it is a dance formed in the context of transmission created bythe local community. It means visually systematized, structured, and stylized dances amongthe dances that were naturally survived by the law of survival of the fittest. Unlike folk dance,Intangible Cultural Heritage Dance artificially organized and structured. One of the conditionwhen constructing in the embodying process is dance or dance move that survived by thelaw of survival of the fittest. This dance becomes the central keyword of Intangible CulturalHeritage Dance systematizing and modifying the dance. This is because Intangible CulturalHeritage Dance, unlike folk dances, is not a natural transmission, but an artificial transmission.Also, it is distributed and passed through education. In order to educate the dance, the systemof educational program is essential. Meaning, concrete contents are needed to be existed fortransmission and education. In this regard, Intangible Cultural Heritage dance is a folk dancewith sufficient conditions to represent the period.