Professor Hyun-Jeong Ko's team (Department of Dance, Ballet Major) at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU), selected for the '2022 Dream Dance Company Operation Project' — a cultural and arts education program organized this year by the Korean Arts & Culture Education Service (ARTE) — is recruiting dancers to participate in this educational program.

This program, launched this year by ARTE, is a cultural and arts education initiative that provides a foundation for children and adolescents to collaborate with artists across various fields through ballet, enabling them to lead creative and self-directed lives. Through this program, JBNU, led by Professor Hyun-Jeong Ko of the Department of Dance, has begun an education series for middle school students titled 'Petit Artist's Think Like a Freak!'.

Based on ballet, the program enables youths to collaborate with artists in theater, visual arts, film, and dance. Participants engage directly in everything from storytelling to performance planning, production, and performance, developing the ability to think with their bodies and solve problems creatively. After the training, students also have the opportunity to build confidence through a live performance.

The application period is open until June 10, 2022, and any middle school student in the Jeonju area may participate. Participation is free of charge. Applications are accepted online via a Naver Form. In particular, the program plans to recruit at least 50% of participants from island and other underserved areas where opportunities to enjoy cultural and artistic activities such as ballet are limited, sharing cultural diversity and realizing the university value of 'Warm Companionship'.

Participants will become 'Dream Dance Company' members and, from June 12, 2022 to November 27, 2022, will create creative, cross-disciplinary artworks through collaboration with JBNU Department of Dance faculty and students, as well as various experts in arts education, media, ballet, contemporary dance, installation art, scriptwriting, and more.

Professor Hyun-Jeong Ko of JBNU, who oversees the program, said, 'The university will actively work to ensure that local youth can directly experience a range of artistic fields through encounters between ballet and other art genres,' adding, 'We will strive to ensure that the university's strong human and material resources benefit local youth, particularly students who have limited access to cultural activities.'

Meanwhile, Professor Hyun-Jeong Ko of JBNU established an organization called 'Petit Mouvement Art Lab' and has been promoting arts education activities that combine culture and education centered on the local community. In particular, she has been implementing the 'Brain Power Up' series, a movement-based cognitive development dance education program she researched and devised based on the cognitive-science logic that movement driven by bodily intuition creates opportunities for the brain to explore, rationalize, and analyze.