상징투쟁 관점으로 본 한국 탭댄스의 어제와 오늘

This study focuses on tap dance, with an aim to understand why tap dance has not acquired a legitimate status in the world of art in Korean society. It was found that tap dancers in Korean society in the 1940s~50s were actively engaged in their symbolic struggle to be part of art, the activities of which included efforts to rename and institutionalize the dance as well as to redefine it as aesthetic work. Their endeavor to define the dance as an independent genre of art however came to naught, largely because their activities did not persist, they did not find any opportunity to be recognized by the society, and tap dancers were not accepted by the artistic world of dance that was in the making at the time. After they disappeared, a new environment for tap dance as popular culture has been created in Korean society since the 1990s. The Korean tap dancers of today want more people to know and enjoy tap dance. As a result, tap dance does not hold the status of high-culture in Korean society.