By Treasure Brown

On Friday, February 23, the Student Dance Organization welcomed guest teacher Jeanie Nam to teach Collegiate’s first community K-pop dance class after school in the Seal dance studio. 

K-pop, short for Korean popular music, originated in South Korea. K-pop music varies greatly when it comes to style and which influences it pulls from. For example, the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK produces music with “rap breaks inspired by the rapid lyrical styles of Nicki Minaj,” according to the LA Film School. F.T. Island, however, creates alternative music that is “emo-stylized” and similar to rock music. And if you enjoy more smooth, slow, R&B-inspired music, you should listen to Korean boy band g.o.d.

K-pop music originated with the Kim sisters in the 1950s. The Kim sisters consisted of Kim Sook-ja, Kim Min-ja, and Kim Ai-ja, who were known in the US as Sue, Mia, and Aija, respectively. The group sang renditions of popular American songs and were the first Korean group to make it onto the Billboard charts. Additionally, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 22 times. Today, there are many popular K-pop groups and artists, one of the most notable being BTS, which stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan, or “Bulletproof Boy Scouts.” Some of their most well known songs include “Idol,” “Yet to Come,” and “Stay.” Social media has contributed largely to K-pop’s continually increasing popularity in the United States. Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have made it easy for exchanges in culture, music, and dances. Without these platforms, K-pop may not have been as widely known or sought after in the US as it is today.

More recently, K-pop has been thought of as not only a genre of music, but a style of dance as well, characterized by its sharpness and synchronicity. However, not everyone in the dance community sees K-pop as its own style, but rather a combination and restyling of popular genres of dance. According to dance performer and choreographer Alice Myung in her article “Korean Pop Dance: What Belongs To Who?, “K-pop dance is a blend of African Diaspora dance forms such as Hip-hop and Jazz… but those influences are not properly acknowledged. Instead, K-Pop is celebrated nationally as their own Korean Pop culture.” Most K-pop dances can be compared to jazz or hip hop dances but are distinctive due to being choreographed to popular K-pop music. Like most genres of dance, K-pop dance is derived from other genres of dance but still incorporates its own isolated features and new ideas. 

Dancer and choreographer Jeanie Nam. Photo courtesy of Jeanie Nam.

The K-pop dance that Nam taught at Collegiate was most similar to an upbeat jazz dance, with high energy, jumping, and posing. Nam has been dancing professionally for 13 years and was introduced to dance through K-pop. She said, “As a Korean-American, my family only listened to Korean music growing up… but I didn’t get super into what people recognize as K-pop until I was around 8 years old. I was introduced to it through YouTube and have loved it ever since.” She has traveled all over the US and South Korea to dance and learn from choreographers of popular groups such as NCT, IVE, ITZY, and more. Nam is currently a dance instructor at West End Academy of Dance here in Richmond and WJ Dance in Vienna, Virginia. Last year, Nam led a K-pop class for Collegiate’s Middle School dancers during the Central Virginia Youth Dance Festival. So when SDO was in search of a guest teacher, Middle School dance teacher Stacey Dudley suggested Nam.

When asked about her favorite aspect of K-pop dance, Nam said, “As a dancer, I think K-pop is a great way to introduce yourself to dance, because there’s so many varying levels of difficulty and styles of dance that there is something for everyone.” She also mentioned that “K-pop emphasizes being clean and having a point choreography… a short part of the choreography that is easier and super memorable with the song. This makes it easier to learn the choreography and more fun to dance to.”

I’ve danced and taken classes in more styles than I could count on my hands, including, but not limited to, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, and Hip Hop. However, I had never taken a class where the choreography was taught to K-pop music or instructed by someone who was extremely knowledgeable about K-pop dances. Additionally, I do not listen to K-pop music and have only learned about it through my peers and videos on social media. Therefore, I was both very excited and somewhat nervous to take the class. I wasn’t sure I would be able to connect with the movement material, or if I would even enjoy K-pop. 

Jeanie Nam teaching dancers. Photo courtesy of Angie Muzzy.

We began class with a short, 10-minute warm-up, which included cardio such as jumping jacks and running, as well as dynamic stretching. Following warm up, Nam presented the combination she would be teaching: a short dance to “ETA” by girl group New Jeans. Jeanie started by breaking the dance into small, digestible sections, teaching the arm and leg movements separately before having us put them together to the music. After about an hour and a half of intense learning, piecing movements together, and water breaks, we had finally learned the full dance: a 30-second-long combination that was performed by New Jeans in their music video. 

Despite the experience being new, experimental, and challenging, it was an amazing time for all who participated. There were about twenty attendees ranging from 9th to 12th Grade, a great majority of whom had never listened to K-pop or taken a K-pop dance class. Mary Ellen Chapman (‘27) said that, despite this, she found it “fun experiencing a different music culture.” Grace Etherington (‘25)  said she “loved connecting everything together, because suddenly I felt like I knew more about dance and felt better at it than I had before.” Upper School dance teacher Angie Muzzy, along with two other Upper School teachers joined in on the class as well. 

The Student Dance Organization looks forward to more community dance classes in the future, expanding into even more genres, styles, and cultures.