Liu’s attention to detail was evident in the costumes and set design, which balanced traditional elements with a contemporary edge. He said that he put a lot of effort into making a set design that could capture the ambiance and the mood of the music, leaving more room for the audiences' imagination. Instead of an elaborate stage set, the backdrop for each episode changed via projected scenes o...

Meanwhile, live music added to the festive atmosphere of the market. LaCapo, a six-person band specializing in Latin and Afro-Cuban music, performed their lively rhythms and beats. The Gyepi Sisters, a duo reinterpreting the unique sounds of world folk music with Middle Eastern percussions, and India Road, a duo pursuing creative music based on traditional Indian raga music, bathed the place in ...

A newly established series of literary and translation prizes, which aims to discover emerging talent in Korean literature and Korean-English translation, has completed its selection of inaugural winners with an announcement of its translation winner earlier this week, according to the series organizer, Charm Agency, this week. On Tuesday, Jenny Jisun Kim, a US-based translator and visual artist...

Endless knitting possibilities While it's true that machines can create items more quickly and efficiently, knitting offers a unique and rewarding experience that appeals to all generations. The act of interlacing loops of yarn to create something beautiful and useful is both calming and fulfilling, and the results are always one-of-a-kind. For individuals who find comfort in the repetitive act...

This year’s longlist includes: Zou Jingzhi’s “Ninth Building,” Amanda Svensson’s “A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding,” Guadalupe Nettel’s “Still Born,” Perumal Murugan’s “Pyre,” Clemens Meyer’s “While We Were Dreaming,” Laurent Mauvignier’s “The Birthday Party,” Andrey Kurkov’s “Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv,” Vigdis Hjorth’s “Is Mother Dead,” GauZ's “Standing Heavy,” Georgi Gospodinov’s “Time Sh...

What was more important was to convey emotions through the dance and music that could resonate with the audience, emphasized Liu. “When I choreograph, I think of two things. First, the artistic beauty itself -- like when you drink coffee, it’s so delicious you don’t worry about how much cream, milk or sugar are in it. That overall beauty is something I pursue in my choreography.” So the directo...

Cheon is the fifth Korean to be nominated for the prize. Bora Chung's “Cursed Bunny” and Park Sang-young’s “Love in the Big City” were nominated in 2022; Han Kang in 2016 and 2018; and Hwang Sok-yong in 2019. Han won the prize for “The Vegetarian” in 2016. Judges said the novel is “an adventure-satire of epic proportions, which sheds new light on the changes Korea experienced in its rapid transi...

Diop, born in Paris to a Senegalese father and a French mother, joined the Paris Opera Ballet in 2018. Since then, he has danced in several etoile roles with lead performances in “Don Quixote,” “La Bayadere” and “Romeo and Juliet.” He was promoted to “sujet,” or a soloist, in November 2022. He achieved the top rank without having gone through the “premiere dancer” stage for several years as is u...

“I thought that (the elimination system) was very cruel. … The population is declining significantly, but society and culture are going mad with survival competitions and the winner-takes-all mindset,” Gu said. In other stories, Gu explores a wide range of themes and ideas. In “City of Flower Funeral,” a seed is planted in a person’s body at birth, and upon their death, the seed blossoms into e...

The number of active Hallyu fans around the world reached 178 million in 2022, according to an annual report published by the Korea Foundation in cooperation with overseas missions, Friday. The figure is about an 18-fold increase from 9.26 million in 2012, when the Korea Foundation’s survey was launched. In comparison, the population of Hallyu fans at 178 million would place it as the eighth-lar...

The Jeju Fire Festival, this year's iteration of which kicked off Thursday, has decided to cancel the program's highlights involving actual fire due to safety concerns, according to the organizers on late Thursday. Several events scheduled for Friday and Saturday, including the festival's highlight, the Oreum Fire Lighting, were canceled as a series of wildfires have recently broken out in other...

Paradise for print designers, the Paper Lab At the Paper Lab, where more than 5,000 kinds of paper can be used to print everything from wedding invitations to paper package samples and even paper seals for a juice bottle, anyone can enjoy printing their work on special paper and create mockups for packages. Operated by the local paper importer Samwon Paper, the Paper Lab offers support and prof...

Jang explained that the trolley was designed to require extreme endurance and mental strength by pulling an infinite rope, whose length was not disclosed to the contestants. He continued, “each situation was explained to both contestants and the way to resume the matches were negotiated and agreed upon by the two athletes.” “I would like to say once again that our production team did not do any...

Jongmyo Jeryeak is a royal ceremonial performance that encompasses song, music and dance. It was performed during ancestral rituals held at Jongmyo Shrine, where the tablets of Joseon kings and queens are enshrined, for royal ancestors’ eternal repose. The music was originally composed in 1447 during the reign of King Sejong for performance at royal banquets, then modified in 1464 for performanc...

Korean ballerina Kang Ho-hyun, who joined the French ballet company in 2018, will take on the role of Willy, the ghost of Giselle, and participate in group dances. Kang was promoted to “sujet,” equivalent to the modern soloist, in 2022. “It is a great honor to participate as a Korean in the first Korean tour in 30 years,” Kang said, adding she was pleased by the opportunity. “The choreography f...