Korean dance traces back over three thousand years ago and has its toots in Korean shamanistic rituals. During cha’s stay in Hawaiʻi between 1963 to 1964, Cha studied dance with Halla Pai Huhm.
Huhm, a Korean dancer and teacher, whose life and art practice are beautifully captured in Billie Lee’s documentary, moving home the legacy of Halla Pai Huhm.
Huhm: the place that you came from — let us learn these places inside of us.
Lee: Not afraid to uproot the debased image of the female dancer and the attributed mystic shaman origins of Korean dance, Huhm was a pioneer in staging dances that made Korean identity visible against the backdrop of colonialism, war, and immigration, leaving behind a significant legacy in Hawaiʻi.
