Korean boyband dancing style ‘could even be bigger than tap’
With classes filling up across the UK and the artists topping the charts, can anything stop K-Pop?
FOR many adults, the members of the world’s best-ever band are John, Paul, George and Ringo.
But ask a teenager the same question today, and they might well reply: Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook.
For those unfamiliar, these young men are members of BTS – a South Korean pop group who sold out Wembley Stadium last summer and became the first band since the Beatles to have three number one albums on the Billboard 200 chart in less than a year. And they can dance.
In fact, their dance moves are so popular that classes have sprung up around the country, specifically for people who want to emulate their K-Pop idols. Some industry insiders say the style could become more popular than ballet or tap.
Louise Quan, 32, founded Love K-Pop Dance London 18 months ago and now hosts two classes a week at Base Dance
Studios in Vauxhall. They are almost always oversubscribed.
“We have a capacity of 30 in the class, but there can sometimes be another 30 on the waiting list,” she said. The crowd is “mostly female” and aged between 18 an and 30.
“But we ge get all types of people. We have ha had students, lawyers, there was even a BBC journalist in our l last class. “There will always be a place for classical dance, but this is ve very commercial, very popular a among young people and very popular on the internet. I see no reason why it couldn’ couldn’t be as big as ballet or tap danc dancing,” she said. Ms Quan became interested in K-Pop in the early 2000s, but has recognis recognised the recent explosion into m mainstream culture. “Early on, I enjoyed it because there was not a lot of representation of Asians in mainstream m music. I was born in Britain but bu have Chinese and Vietname Vietnamese heritage, so I felt a connect connection to the genre,” said Ms Quan. Qu “Now, there are at least five different schools in London teaching teac K-Pop dancing, which is in incredible. In K-Pop, you have to d dance, so to sing and dance the way they do is amazing. People come to our classes and think it’s toug tough, so they really respect the artists who do it.” Caroline Stacey, 30, works in finance, but once a month hosts a K-Pop dance class in Elephant and Castle. Recently, she had 75 people turn up for a seven-hour Sunday session.
“We have people coming from all over. Bristol, Wales, one man even brought his daughter all the way from
Switzerland because there isn’t a K-Pop culture over there,” she said. “We host masterclasses and learn the dances that have been specially choreographed for the song. One month we were doing a dance from the band NCT and it sold out in five minutes.”
K-Pop’s popularity seems like it will continue to grow, and artists have been getting on board. BTS collaborated with Nicki Minaj, the US rapper, and a girl group called Blackpink have worked with Dua Lipa, the UK singer.
Brian May, the Queen guitarist, was in South Korea yesterday and told reporters that, despite generational gaps, “even we can feel just how great this movement is”.
‘We have 30 in the class and sometimes 30 on the waiting list’