Kim Yuna's Ballet Challenge Revealed

Figure skating queen Kim Yuna has announced a special performance challenging herself as a ballerina in collaboration with Shin Woo-seok, director of Dolphin Factory. This project is part of Google's campaign 'Our Queen is back,' released by Kakao Entertainment, and features figure skating queen Kim Yuna and ballet legend Kang Soo-jin together. The content will be released on the Google Korea YouTube channel on the 6th (Monday) and will also be available on the Dolphin Factory official YouTube channel on the 7th (Tuesday). A teaser video showing Kim Yuna in a ballet costume instead of skates has garnered significant attention.

'Our Queen is back' features Kim Yuna reinterpreting her legendary short program, 'Danse Macabre,' with ballet choreography. Expectations are high for Kim Yuna, familiar on the ice rink, transforming into a ballerina, and how 'Danse Macabre,' which left a strong impression worldwide, will be reborn as a ballet. Notably, Kang Soo-jin, a representative ballerina of Korea, will participate alongside Kim Yuna, creating a fantastic performance. In addition to the main film, this project is expected to include diverse content such as five short-form videos detailing the behind-the-scenes making-of and episodes before and after Kim Yuna's ballet performance.

This project is drawing even more interest as it is a new work by director Shin Woo-seok, who is known for his witty imagination and solid storytelling. Director Shin Woo-seok successfully presented 'The Christmas Song' from <Shin Woo-seok's Urban Fairytale> last year, in collaboration with Google, which captured the charms of stars in a music video format. Given the positive reviews for its warm emotion, unpredictable twists, and stylish direction and cinematography at the time, expectations are growing for the new creativity and mise-en-scène he will showcase in this project.

This project was born through a strategic collaboration with Google, and Google Gemini was utilized in the process of reinterpreting 'Danse Macabre' as a ballet. Ballerina Kang Soo-jin participated throughout the project, serving in a supervisory role, and experts in choreography, stage, and costumes also used Gemini to participate in choreography composition, movement, and stage and costume design.

Kim Yuna also demonstrated creativity by analyzing and refining ballet movements in detail through Gemini during choreography practice, utilizing AI technology. Director Shin Woo-seok stated, "I created the video with the hope that everyone can pursue their life goals without giving up and fully realize their potential," adding, "I hope it becomes a special gift to many fans, as Kim Yuna passionately practiced and completed the stage to transform into a ballerina in a new way."