♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaking native language ] -I'm originally from Pohang, South Korea.

I was introduced to dance at the age of five when my mom took me to my first dance class.

I fell in love right away and attended performance schools and simply loved it.

-Lena Kim was very renowned, one of the most respected and popular Korean folk dancers.

-In Korea, my grandma is really famous.

I think she's a great dancer and she inspires many Korean people in the nation and in Korea.

[ Speaking native language ] -For me, there was always a fire inside me.

A lot of people do call me tiger mom, tiger teacher.

[ Drumming ] Always challenging myself to do something, something more difficult, something that's not attainable.

But for me, that only makes the fire burn more.

[ Speaking native language ] -So in 1967, I was able to receive the National Performance Award while I was just in my middle school.

1972 was the first time that I received recognition for my hunchback dance.

-[Narrator 2] Lena Kim was an acclaimed master of traditional dance in South Korea when she immigrated to the United States in 1982.

She was in her early 30s.

She then spent years working at a Korean fish market and a grocery store in the Bronx.

In 2014, Lena returned to Korea and began to dance again.

It had been more than 30 years.

[ Speaking native language ] -Even though it's been 30 years, my body definitely was older, but my insight, the passion, the dream, the fire inside me was burning throughout those 30 years, and all I wanted to do was just get back on stage and dance again.

-[Narrator 2] Now, dancers and teachers from throughout the U.S. and abroad come to study with Lena at her studio in Palisades Park, New Jersey.

-Palisades Park -- The economy wasn't doing too good during the '80s.

Korean Americans saw this opportunity, came here to start to rebuild it again.

And this is what you see right now.

About 65% are Korean Americans or descendants.

-[Narrator 2] Lena performed at the town's Korean Arts in Motion festival.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -She is one of the last masters now because she is in her mid 70s, so the masters that taught her are all gone now.

She is very sad that it might die with her.

Her dream is to give it to me.

She wants me to learn it so that I could pass it on to the next generation.

She's been asking me for years, and I've been saying, "That's a ridiculous dream.

I have no idea what you're doing.

I mean, seriously, give it to someone who knows what they're doing."

But there's a few lessons with her.

I feel that fire that she's talking about, so we're considering it now.

[ Drumming ] The dance is called Koban Nam-Moo Dance, originally performed mostly for the kings and nobles of Joseon Dynasty, starting back in 1300s.

It's considered one of the most glamorous dances, and it has its artistry with culture and refinement.

[ Speaking native language ] -The reason why I see Koban Nam-Moo Dance being different than any other dance, goes back generations from the early stages from when Korea was first formed.

There's a word in Korea called "Han."

If you translate it into English, it's just simply soul, but it doesn't do a full translation because Han itself embodies the soul going through all the different emotions such as sadness, joy, wisdom.

And Korean traditional dance embodies Han, that soul.

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