Yoon Hye-rin, co-CEO of Danstruct (30), graduated from Ewha Womans University's Department of Korean Dance. Her major is choreography. After graduating from university, she managed to gather KRW 3 million for her first performance, but the income was only KRW 300,000. Meeting at Danstruct's office in Gangnam, Seoul, on the 18th, CEO Yoon recalled, "I could physically feel the difficulties of an artist's life."

Danstruct is a startup leading the digitalization of choreography. It created an online distribution platform called XSTAGE, selling over 1,700 types of dance moves, including K-pop dance, worldwide. It hosted and organized the K-pop choreography awards, the Choreo Awards. It is also involved in presenting international standards through activities with the UNESCO International Dance Council. CEO Yoon stated, "To solidify the foundation of K-pop dance advancing globally with K-pop, choreography must be made into digital assets."

● Starting as a Content Creator

The bitter experience of her first performance led CEO Yoon to become a YouTube creator. In 2019, she started the YouTube channel 'Danstruct,' interviewing dancers and sharing their stories. The 2021 TV program 'Street Woman Fighter,' a competition for female dance crews, was an opportunity. CEO Yoon collaborated with star choreographers and dancers such as Gabi and Lia Kim of 1MILLION Dance Studio to produce the series 'Trend Gabi's View' and 'Lia Reality Show.' These series recorded an average of 500,000 views, with a maximum of 2 million views, generating annual sales of KRW 350 million. However, with each video costing KRW 7 to 10 million to produce, the sustainability of the media business producing original content needed to be addressed.

Enrolling in KAIST's MBA program in 2021 was a decisive turning point for CEO Yoon. She said, "As music is recorded in digital form and major media transition to streaming platforms, it has become an enormous market. I was convinced that if dance could be digitalized and spread through motion capture technology, it would become a significant industry." She saw a path forward in a dark maze.

In 2023, she secured seed investments from SparkLabs, KOC Partners, and others, diving into the technology business in earnest. Co-CEO Oh Se-gi (38), an expert in information technology (IT) and business strategy, is also a KAIST MBA graduate. Currently, Danstruct is dedicated to the digitalization of choreography with a team of 11, including three developers, two animators, two in marketing and design, one in management support, and one dancer.

● The Role of K-pop Choreography in the Metaverse

The reality where choreography is utilized as new content in digital spaces is already upon us. In the battle royale shooting game Fortnite, an emote using the choreography of BTS's song "Dynamite" has been released, allowing gamers worldwide to dance K-pop in the game. In the global battle royale game PUBG, various dance content, including emotes collaborated with NewJeans, is being sold as paid items. In Japan, virtual idol agencies like Hololive and Nijisanji have emerged, establishing a virtual idol-related industry worth hundreds of billions of KRW.

Domestically, the virtual idol Plave proved its potential by topping music broadcasts. Behind their success are sophisticated motion capture technology and real-time choreography data. CEO Yoon stated, "We completed the missing parts of the choreography for the globally popular animation 'K-pop Demon Hunters' song 'Soda Pop' and quickly supplied it as digital choreography. This allowed many creators to utilize it swiftly." Recently, a famous online broadcaster requested Danstruct to create choreography suitable for a virtual character they own, aiming to nurture a virtual idol.

According to global market research firm Future Market Insights, the global animation software market size is estimated to be USD 576.7 million (approximately KRW 877.7 billion) this year and is expected to grow to USD 1.5259 billion (KRW 2.1371 trillion) by 2035.

● Challenges in the Motion Capture Market and Danstruct's Solution

When a game company or virtual idol agency wants to incorporate trendy dances into their characters, they face two main issues. First is time. With the life cycle of trendy dances averaging two weeks, it takes about 45 days to plan, contract intellectual property (IP), train dancers, and conduct motion capture and program editing. By then, the trend has passed. The cost is also significant. According to Danstruct, self-production requires a motion capture studio costing billions of KRW and incurs substantial fixed costs. Even outsourcing costs at least KRW 1 million for venue rental and KRW 30,000 per second for data processing.

CEO Yoon stated, "By monitoring dance trends daily, we shoot weekly and upload new choreography data, completing it in 1 to 2 weeks." She added, "A 30-second choreography move can be purchased on XSTAGE for an average of KRW 16,000, reducing costs that used to be at least hundreds of thousands of KRW for outsourcing to the ten-thousand KRW range."

Danstruct plans to complete retargeting technology by the end of this year, which naturally applies motion data to characters. It is being co-developed with KAIST's Graduate School of Culture Technology. Using artificial intelligence (AI), it automates the manual adjustment of character body proportions. Once this technology is completed, the post-processing stage, which requires significant time and manpower, will be simplified, reducing motion data production time by 51%. Danstruct aims for a platform for 'real-time trend motion instant distribution.'

They are also developing choreography data similarity determination technology. This is expected to significantly contribute to activating the digitalization ecosystem of choreography by protecting choreography intellectual property rights. Currently, it is a transitional period where the legal and institutional foundation for choreography copyrights is being formed. Even if choreography copyrights exist, the practical application and management, such as copyright fee settlement and distribution, are inadequate. CEO Yoon stated, "This technology is necessary for paying choreography copyright fees and protecting creators' rights," adding, "We are communicating with the Korea Choreography Copyright Association (President Lia Kim) to ensure K-pop choreography copyrights receive fair treatment globally."

Furthermore, they plan to develop choreography-generating AI. It will create dances by inputting text and music in a multimodal manner.

● Vision for a 'More Enjoyable World Through Dance'

Unlike existing global competitors that focus on selling motion data of non-creative everyday movements, Danstruct plans to concentrate on distributing movements with choreography value, such as K-pop dance. Paying fair copyright fees to choreographers is a crucial mission for the company.

Danstruct is currently selling motion data to small creators or virtual IP production companies or receiving requests for creative choreography to accumulate IP. In the future, they aim to contract with domestic entertainment companies and supply motion data to global game companies.

CEO Yoon stated, "We will establish a system where usage fees return to choreographers whenever choreography content is used digitally, realizing the value of choreography works." The company name Danstruct is a portmanteau of dance and construct, embodying the dream of building a world made more enjoyable through dance.

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