The development of what I call 'performance tea' in Korea might
possibly be inspired in part by recent Japanese examples of tea
ceremony done in a public setting (international gatherings, cultural
festivals etc) instead of a tiny temple tea-room, I do not know.
Certainly Chae Won-Hwa, the head of the Panyaro Institute and the
inheritor of the Ven Hyodang's tea tradition, has always included an
'on-stage' presentation of the formalized 'tea ceremony' she teaches
in the final graduation ceremonies, first done by those who are
graduating, then in a more intensely meditative manner by herself
alone. This last was really impressive, the more so for being at the
time (10 years ago) quite unique.

After seeing her, one Korean had the idea of inviting some major
contemporary composers to compose 'tea music' -- pieces that could be
played while she and other tea masters were performing their
particular form of tea. Such 'tea music' has existed for longer in
China (and Japan too I expect) and it was probably CDs of tea music
brought from China that may have given the idea. There have been
occasional concerts where these pieces were performed live while tea-
people did their thing at the front of the stage. These have now
become rare because the musicians felt they were being upstaged by the
tea people, who seemed to get most of the applause. (Really!)

Many Korean tea masters (not Panyaro) do the performance with 2-3
'guests' to whom tea is served, everyone being dressed up in rather
showy traditional Korean costumes. Part of the motivation for such
performance tea might be the way, in the modern world, traditional
culture tends to be reduced to little clips in performances organized
during 'cultural festivals' whether for tourists in-country or as a
national promotion overseas. I confess that I find performance tea
boring unless the person doing it has a very special charisma, which
few do, but for those seeing it for the first time, it often
impresses. At least, it serves to remind dozens or even hundreds of
people that Korean tea exists, whereas it is not possible to serve tea
properly to a crowd that size in such a way that the real qualities
come across.

I would assert that China did not until very recently have any kind of
'tea ceremony' -- everyone was too busy drinking tea! Nowadays tourism
is a big thing in China too, and international tea-exchanges with
Japan and Korea have prompted some Chinese tea-people to formalize a
kind of Chinese performance-tea on the basis of the way they usually
drink tea, only done more slowly as a show.

I, like every other tea drinker, learn my tea above all by drinking
it. I am an honorary graduate of the Panyaro Institute, so you could
consider me a tea master but I don't. I am a tea learner like the rest
of us.