Traditional dance master Lee Mae-bang dies at 88

Lee Mae-bang

By Yun Suh-young

Korean dance guru Lee Mae-bang died of a sudden illness stemming from old age at a hospital in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Friday morning. He was 88.

The bereaved family announced that Lee's health drastically deteriorated the previous day and his death came as a surprise since the virtuoso was healthy enough to visit Mokpo a week before and had been preparing for a performance in December.

He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Lee, born in 1926 in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, was the only remaining artist who had mastered “seungmoo” (Buddhist dance) and “salpuri” (exorcism dance), which are designated Important Intangible Cultural Heritages No. 27 and No. 97.

Lee had steadily pursued traditional dance for more than 80 years since he started learning dance at the age of 7. His seungmoo dance is known to represent the regional characteristics of North and South Jeolla Provinces which are graceful and aloof.

Under masters Lee Dae-jo and Lee Chang-jo, he learned the basics of seungmoo, buknori (drum performance) and geommu (sword dance), and during the five years he lived in China, he mastered the knife and lamp dances.

He was first introduced to the public when he was 15 when he performed seungmoo at pansori master Im Bang-wool’s performance.

Lee danced at a variety of international events including the Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony in 1992 and the Avignon Festival in France in 1998.

He received several medals including the Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres offered by the French government in 1998 and the Order of Merit given by the Korean National Assembly in 2011.