The Department of Dance at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) is launching a program to support students in developing creativity by planning and producing performances based on ballet. The department was selected for the '2022 Dream Dance Troupe Program', a cultural and arts education program administered by the Korea Arts and Culture Education Service (Arte) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Professor Ko Hyun-jeong, a ballet faculty member in the Department of Dance at JBNU, established an organization called 'Petit Mouvement Art Lab' and has actively carried out a variety of culture- and education-combined activities centered on the local community. Being selected for the Dream Dance Troupe will accelerate the regional arts education work she has been conducting.

Launched by Arte for the first time this year, the program is a cultural and arts education initiative that provides a foundation for children and youth to collaborate with artists from various fields through ballet, enabling them to lead creative and self-directed lives.

Through this program, Professor Ko Hyun-jeong announced that she will formally begin an educational project for middle school students under the theme 'Petit Artist's Think like a Freak!'.

'Petit Artist's Think like a Freak!' is based on ballet and involves collaboration with artists in theater, visual arts, film, and dance. Youth participants will directly handle storytelling as well as the planning, production, and performance of the production, using dance and movement to address the various concerns and interests experienced by children and adolescents.

Students will accumulate diverse artistic experiences through the process of planning and producing performances and will have hands-on opportunities in film, installation art, production planning, and choreography. Through this, they develop the ability to think with their bodies and solve problems creatively. They will experience the value of empathy through ballet and movement exercises and build confidence through a live performance after the educational program.

For this program, Professor Ko Hyun-jeong, a ballet faculty member in the Department of Dance, selected a tailored theme of vocational experience based on an understanding of Jeonju's regional characteristics and the target participants. Education will take place on the Art Green campus of JBNU and in a dance studio of approximately 100 pyeong, and arrangements are underway to rent a theater for the final live performance.

In particular, the plan is to recruit more than 50% of participants from vulnerable groups who have limited access to dance or ballet, allowing youth in island regions to experience the diversity of culture and the arts, and to establish a stepping stone for JBNU to serve as a cultural and arts cluster for the Jeonbuk region.

Professor Ko Hyun-jeong, who is leading this program, stated, 'The university plans to actively step forward so that local youth can directly experience a variety of artistic fields through encounters between ballet and other art genres,' and added, 'We will strive to ensure that the university's excellent human and material infrastructure can benefit local youth.'