culture

Ri Sun Nyo is a People’s Artiste and the secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Dancers Union of Korea.

Whenever she looks back upon her 45-year-long career as a dancer, she says that national dance is everything to her.

With a special aptitude for dance in her childhood, she enrolled at Wonsan Art School at the age of 11 and dreamed of becoming a dancer.

She would play the leading part in different works including dance “A Bumper Harvest of Apple” whenever the school gave a performance.

After graduation, she became a dancer of the then Pyongyang Moranbong Art Troupe.

Her wish was to distinguish herself in the dance circles like Choe Sung Hui and People’s Artiste Hong Jong Hwa who left indelible marks on the development of Korean dance.

She trained hard both at the training hall and hostel. Once, she was so engrossed in practising dance movements of a new work in the hostel she unwittingly broke the lamp on the ceiling to pieces by hitting it with the janggu (hourglass drum) stick.

As she was such a fiery enthusiast, she could win the Fourth February 16 Art Prize Individual Contest by performing solo “Janggu Dance”.

Previous works required doing dance while carrying janggu only. But Ri Sun Nyo performed dance while beating the musical instrument. Everyone was mesmerized by the elegant, charming and beautiful rhythmic movements of Korean dance she performed to the fast and exciting tune of janggu. After that, she rose to fame as a dancer who broke new ground of janggu dance.

Whenever people congratulate her, she attributes her success to the ability and enthusiasm of Om Yong Chun, People’s Artist and choreographer who created the work, instead of her talent.

Om had developed the janggu dance favoured by people from a solo to a group dance.

Chairman Kim Jong Il saw janggu group dance “Moran Hill in Spring” starred by Sun Nyo three times and spoke highly of it.

Sun Nyo always played the leading part in many domestic performances and captivated foreign audiences with the charm of Korean dances in foreign performance tours.

During her stage career, she created more than 30 national dance pieces including mixed group dance “The Pride of Gold Mountain” and sohaegum solo and dance “Long Arirang” and was invited to the dance university of Northeast China for several years to pass on and create national dance.

Having worked as secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Dancers Union of Korea since last year, she devotes her wisdom and enthusiasm to inheriting and developing the tradition of elegant and beautiful Korean dance and ensuring that younger generations carry it on.