Seung-Hee Choi

Choi Seung-hee (Korean: 최승희; Hanja: 崔承喜 November 24, 1911 – August 8, 1969) was a leading Korean modern dancer. Choi is an important figure of early modern dance in Korea, Japan and China who gained worldwide fame in the 1930s. Choi was born into a yangban-class family in Seoul, Korea during the colonial period, and was also known by the Japanese pronunciation of her name, Sai Shōki. Despite the Japanese policy of Sōshi-kaimei, a policy of changing Korean names to Japanese names, she retained her Korean family name of Choi. Sai is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character for Choi, and was not considered Japanese.The multiple pronunciation of her names shows the existing complex cultural relations within the Japanese Empire. When she was a child, her family faced financial trouble after their lands were taken away by the Japanese. Their only income came from her brother Choi Seung-il's manuscripts.

After graduating from Sookmyung High School at the age of fifteen, she tried to become a teacher to help her family financially. She passed seventh amongst 860 applicants, but was rejected due to her age. She was told to return a year later.

Her brother, Choi Seung-il, suggested her to join Baku Ishii to learn the art of dance. Baku Ishii was a prominent Japanese modern dance and ballet dancer (and the father of Kan Ishii who became an actor and a classical composer during the 1940s-1960s). Choi Seung-il was part of the Korea Artist Proletariat Federation (KAPF), and had many connections in both Japan and Korea to journalists and intellectuals. This made it possible for him to connect Choi with Ishii as Ishii also did work for the KAPF. At first Ishii was hesitant to admit Choi as his student, as he believed that the Korean public did not appreciate dance and thought that their performance resembled that of a traveling circus instead of a respected troupe. Ishii was reluctant to accept Choi as his student because of how they would be viewed by the Korean and Japanese public. However, in 1926, he decided to accept her because he thought her addition would encourage a better relationship between Korea and Japan. She was mesmerized by Baku Ishii's performance, especially at his expressions of darkness and torment. Ishii accepted Choi, and even offered to teach her for free and send her to music school. In early 1920s Korea, it was uncommon for a family with conservative Confucian beliefs and ideals to allow for their child to study dance. After Choi gained her parents' reluctant permission, she left for Japan with Ishii, his wife, his sister, and his students on the next day on March 25, 1926.

Choi was Ishii's second Korean student. The first was Kang Hong-shik who left Ishii later and became a movie star under a Japanese name. (The maternal grandson of Kang Hong-shik is Choi Min-soo, who is known as one of the most acclaimed actors in South Korea now). At a time of anti-Korean sentiment heightened by the Korean independence movement and a false rumor that the ethnic Koreans were taking advantage of the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake to commit violence, which triggered the Kantō Massacre upon the Koreans, Ishii was progressive and open to the Koreans.

Although the dance group performed successfully and brought in a lot of income, they struggled financially because of Ishii's debts. He did not have the sufficient salary to give to his dancers. To pay his debts, Ishii lowered the quality of the performances in exchange for quantity. Choi and two Japanese dancers decided to leave the group.

Choi returned to Korea and founded her dancing art institute called the 최승희무용예술연구소. She had both Korean and Japanese students. Upon her return, she was placed in a spotlight because of the political implications and weight of her international work as a Korean dancer. Magazines and newspapers wrote about her Western dance, dancing abroad, and personal life in Korea. The Korean media had a large interest in her work as a dancer and as part of the "new woman" phenomenon. he was particularly subject to media gossip as an unmarried woman. Choi differentiated herself from traditionalism, but also from the new women who specifically identified breaking jeongjo (chastity) as a more modern practice. Choi was continuously a subject to the public's backlash, as there were several rumors about her committing acts of adultery. Despite Choi’s desire to be recognized for developing new dances in Korea, the Korean society only regarded her as part of the "new woman" trend, setting her against the traditional ideal of women. She was seen as an entertainer in the eyes of many Koreans rather than as a modern artist. Choi did not initially intend to study Korean dance at first, as the Korean society did not hold dance to the esteem of fine art; instead, dance was seen as a lowly form of entertainment associated with the gisaeng (courtesan).

During this time in Korea, her brother introduced her to his alumni, Ahn Mak (originally named Ahn Pil-seung) a student of Waseda University. The couple married on May 10, 1931. Just three months after their wedding, Ahn Mak was arrested for his connections with Communist sympathizers, and was released on October 15. Ahn Mak went to Tokyo for the winter semester exam. With Ahn's permission, Choi funded her institute from money earned from sending Ahn's manuscripts to the newspaper companies. Funding was also gained from the sponsorship of The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper company. Choi began to perform Korean folk dances during this time in Korea. Ahn returned temporarily after learning of Choi's pregnancy. Their daughter Ahn Seung-ja was born on July 20, 1932. Choi disbanded her institute. Choi became drawn to the Japanese metropolis after a cultural bloom in the 1930s, she found work and artistic opportunities by appealing to Japanese audiences by using colonial traditions. There was also controversy about Choi’s close relationship with the Japanese imperial government. For example, in 1929, the Sookmyung Girl's High School as they threatened to deem her a dishonorable alumni in response to her dancing in a Japanese dance troupe. Such a relationship with Japan made her interesting in the public sphere as only seven of her dances were traditionally Korean.

Choi returned to Japan with her daughter and with a student from her disbanded institute, Kim Min-ja. Kim Min-ja wanted to follow Choi to Japan, and she offered to work as Seung-ja's nanny. Choi continued to study under Ishii where she distinguished herself as a talented dancer. She developed her own modern dances inspired by Korean folk dances, which had been considered by a lot of the Koreans as lowly works. It was Ishii and Ahn who suggested her to learn the Korean folk dances. Ishii introduced Choi to Han Song-joon who taught Choi more of the Korean dances. At a modern dance competition that was hosted by a monthly magazine 영녀계, Choi performed her Korean dances, one of which she was disguised as a man and artistically imitated her father's drunken dance. (After the competition at the end of one of her later performances 풍랑을 헤가르고, she took off her mask of an old man's face on stage).

Theater organizations in Japan supported Choi and used her image as a colonial woman. They used femininity and Asian Tradition to create a sense of sensibility and superiority of the empire. The image of femininity was anticipated to play a role in bridging the divide between perceptions of colonized individuals and colonial encounters. As well as, alleviating the Western powers' hostility towards Japanese militarism in Asia. Choi’s career trajectory and the various spaces in which she performed generated multiple and distinct identities influenced by the desires of the intended audience. The chronological shifts in Choi’s career as well as the national tensions she navigated gave insight to contradictions within the Japanese colonial empire. The portrayal of Choi's image coincided with the rapid expansion of media and entertainment during wartime, effectively utilizing Choi's fame for political gain. Her work became a tremendously popular cultural phenomenon in Japan at the time, with Japanese imperialism playing a pivotal role in shaping colonial culture.

Choi and Ahn researched historical texts on the forgotten Korean dances. Choi had already seen the sword dances of the shamans and the kisaengs in Korea. Choi sought an energetic style. Ahn found texts of ancient Korean militaristic sword dances from a library.

Choi began to work as a model. She used the money that she earned from modelling to fund her performances. She also began to appear in musicals. Ahn used his money that was meant for tuition fees to fund Choi's performance.

Ishii continued to have financial problems in 1936. In order to help him, Choi and Ishii's six students performed in Taiwan. Their performances in Japan and Taiwan were all successful. Not long after her return from Taiwan, Choi bought a two-story mansion in Tokyo.

Choi was supported by numerous Japanese intellectuals, including Yasunari Kawabata, and corresponded with both Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso. She was also a vocalist, and made recordings at Taepyeong Records and Kirin Records (in Manchukuo), before making her 1936 album Garden of Italy at Columbia Records Japan.

As Choi earned fame across several countries as well as in the West, several Japanese critics wrote about Choi's work. Critics They praised Choi’s work as they believed that she could represent one of the Manchukuo national mottos that called for Five Races under One Union. Japanese critic, Natsuya Mitsuyoshi also acclaimed Choi's success at her recital in Shanghai in 1943. He described it as a great representation of Asian people looking to form Great Asia under Japanese Rule. Choi performed as a Japanese dancer yet it was believed she sympathized with Korea and she was esteemed by Koreans. Nevertheless she later received a great deal of criticism in North Korea for assimilating to dancing under the empire.