Taeyeon, Hwasa, HORI7ON, LUN8, and more to perform at the opening ceremony of Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics 2024
On January 11th, the executive director of the opening ceremony for the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics 2024 Yang Jung Ung revealed at the press conference that he wanted to present a low-key ceremony with a more modest scale that would be in line with the youthful concept of the competition.
Executive producer Oh Jang Hwan added, “For the Olympics, the opening ceremony is essentially a showcase for the host nation, but we will be focusing on youth in our ceremony. Rather than pushing a peace discourse or displaying a national vision, our story will be about supporting young people’s dreams.”
“We went mostly with groups that were formed within the past year or so, but not some of the well-known acts,” Yang said. “We wanted to highlight their potential.”
“The theme of the ceremony will be ‘Let Us Shine,’ showing young people discover stars shining inside them as they grow up,” he added.
“We will have some professional performers on one hand, but we will also have plenty of amateurs,” Oh explained. “With the Olympics, having an engagement with the local community is important. We gave priority to people from Gangneung and Gangwon regions when we were selecting performers.”
The ceremony will take place simultaneously at Gangneung Oval and PyeongChang Dome.
The main stage at the Gangneung Oval will feature newly-formed boy group LUN8 and girl group TripleS, joined by renowned Korean rappers Ash Island and Changmo, traditional Korean band Lennalchi, and dance crew Ambiguous Dance Company.
Headlining the performances at the PyeongChang Dome is Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon. Hwasa, BewhY, dancers from 1MILLION Dance Studio, and all-Filipino rookie idol group HORI7ON will also perform at the venue.
The grand finale of the Opening Ceremony will be the traditional lighting of the Youth Olympic cauldron. Gangwon 2024 will also introduce a “digital cauldron” that will also be “lit” during the ceremony, outside the venue.
The Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics 2024 will officially open on Friday, January 19, and you can watch the opening ceremony performances and live sports sessions on Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.
