Seungmu

thumb|390x390px|Kim Myo Seon performing Seungmoo in traditional costume called Changsam Seungmu is a Korean dance performed by Buddhist monks. It is one of the most famous Korean traditional dances and designated as South Korea's important intangible cultural asset number 27 in 1969. It has been developed into a solo dance by professional dancers.

==Origins== There is little extant evidence regarding how Seungmu was created. Seungmu is a dance that origins are traced back to Korea. But there is no known exact origin of where the dance could have originated. However, there are many suggestions of where this dance could have formed. It is believed that a wandering monk called Wonhyo had some connection to the creation of the monk’s dance (Seungmu). In addition, to Wonhyo, some others or circumstances could have been the progenitors of this dance. Some scholars suggest that this dance originated from “mocking upper-class priests who repeated certain bodily gestures when they were engaged in Buddhist teaching or disciplinary activity”. Eventually, the dance gained popularity during the sixteenth century. Some believed the dance originated then by a celebrated courtesan called Hwang Chin’i.