By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Forty four (44) Nigerian youths at the weekend graduated from the Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria (KCCN) K-POP Dance Academy, where they learnt different dancing styles in the Korean popular music.
The graduating Students who learned and practiced in different teams, thrilled the guests at the ceremony with various dance styles, as they performed dance show of seven popular Korean artists.
Some of the artists they remixed their dance show are: Bouncy by Ateez, Good Boy Gone Bad Boy by TXT, God’s Menu by Stray Kids, Run BTS by BTS, Roar By The Boys, Mic Drop by BTS and Sugar Rush Ride by TXT.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, the Director of KCCN, Kim Changki said the K-Pop dance class in the Korean Cultural Center has become an annual academic class for Nigerian youths who are interested in the Korean dance style.
He said to add flavor to the academy, the KCCN decided to invite a dance expert from Korea, Jay Kim, to mentor the Nigerian students and guide them in their practice.
“This year, KCCN invited Jay Kim from Korea to come, teach and perform with the Nigerian K-pop students. Jay Kim said Nigerian students are fastly learning the K-Pop dance styles. Last week, we held a K-Pop dance competition in Lagos.
“So, I am very happy with this competition. Though we have various competition involving different aspects of K-Pop dance in Korean culture, but I want to make K-Pop dance and K-Food class and other Korean cultures sustainable cultural programmes”, Kim Changki said.
He advised the graduating Students to commit more time and practice in the K-Pop dance to achieve perfection, adding that in Korea, many K-Pop dancers spend much time practicing the dance style.
According to him, KCCN introduced K-Pop vocal academy for the first time in Nigeria as well as Children K-Pop dance academy, which is also the first of its kind in the country, which he said will build children in the knowledge of the popular music dance from childhood.
Kim Changki said the Cultural Center usually recommends three best Nigerian teams in K-Pop annual dance competition to experts in Korea, who evaluate them to choose those that will come to Korea for competition with other artists.
Speaking also at the graduation ceremony, the K-Pop dance tutor from Korea, Jay Kim said Nigerian youths have great talent and physical proportion for dance.
“They are powerful and energetic for dance. They need to learn that in dancing K-Pop, they are like a team, with a captain and members, so it was really good.”
Speaking on the usefulness of the K-POP dance and how the Government can leverage it for youth empowerment, Jay Kim said Korea and Nigeria have different cultures and education structures.
He advised the students to define what they want, what they want to achieve with the dance and focus on it, saying artists in Korea make a good living out of dance through Government support and encouragement.
“In Korea, dance students had to like spend time, like eight to ten hours everyday, learning and practicing”, he said while advising the graduating students not to lose focus.
Speaking on behalf of the students, Jethro Damina and Success Nwaeze said “personally, I am planning on starting a group for K-Pop dance here in Nigeria. It will be known as K-pop dance group Nigeria. I will try to push it to the next level. My advice to Nigerian youths that are into music and dance is that they should not relent. They should keep pushing, and try to do other styles of dance. They should explore”.
He regretted that in Nigeria, music and dance artists do not enjoy the support of the government, saying if government can invest in music and dance industry, it will help engage a lot of youths and the support will go a long way to create jobs.
Success Nwaeze said “I am a dancer by profession. I teach young and adults how to dance. But the knowledge I gained from this K-Pop dance academy will help me to learn how to teach non dancers. My advice to youths who are interested in dance is to show more passion and commitment. Do not settle for the less, but dance like it is your last.”
