Northwestern’s premier Korean dance group K-Dance performed its fifth annual spring showcase, titled “Produce NU,” in Ryan Auditorium on Friday.
Inspired by the Korean reality group survival show Produce 101, the almost two-hour performance featured 101 NU students dancing in 24 pieces based on choreography from various K-pop groups.
Weinberg sophomore Yujin Tatar was not initially interested in joining K-Dance — but once she saw her friend perform in the spring showcase last year, she knew she wanted to join.
Having joined the group in fall, Tatar was initially nervous about the performance, she said. The support of K-Dance’s executive board and the other group members helped ease her nerves.
“Hearing all the cheers (from the executive board) made me so happy and so excited to dance,” Tatar said.
The opening number to KATSEYE’s song “Debut” received much audience applause, as did performances of aespa’s “Whiplash” and SEVENTEEN’s “_World.”
NU’s East Asian-interest acapella group, Treblemakers, guest performed two songs after intermission, including Bruno Mars and Rosé’s “APT.”
K-Dance, which hosts annual spring shows, referenced the performance’s theme by creating its own survival show consisting of five parts: initial rank test, icons cover mission, position battle, concept showdown and a live finale. Each part corresponded with a series of dances performed.
Weinberg senior and K-Dance member Betty Dong led the dance to SEVENTEEN’s “_World.” She said she was excited to lead a dance for the first time and appreciated the quick progression the group helped her achieve since she had only been dancing for a year.
Like Tatar, she said her decision to join K-Dance in her junior year was impulsive.
“My friends and I, we went to just watch the spring show, and then after that, I was like, ‘Oh well, maybe I should do the spring show, and the next year, I joined,’” Dong said.
K-Dance has two events planned for Spring Quarter: Springfest and a random play dance, an event where the choruses of popular K-pop songs are played at random and participants are expected to replicate the dances. Unlike the winter and spring showcases, they are first-come, first-served instead of video submission-based.
Weinberg freshman and performance director Jessica Gomez said she hopes these events will attract entry-level dancers to participate, given the stress-free environment.
“Being able to have fun and have it be less competitive than it has been in recent years is a goal of mine,” Gomez said. “Just getting as many people to dance on stage is my goal.”
For many participants, this was their first time being in a K-Dance showcase. As one of these newcomers, Tatar said the best part of the spring showcase was getting to see large-scale performances from a new perspective.
“I’ve always been in the audience of the dance shows, so it’s cool that I can finally see behind the scenes, backstage and everything,” Tatar said.
A previous version of this story misstated that K-Dance has performed seven annual shows. K-Dance has performed five annual shows. The story also said the show consisted of four parts; it consisted of five. It also stated that the group consists of only undergraduate students, but it includes graduate students as well. The Daily regrets these errors.
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