Dancing as an Exchange Student in Korea
Me and my waacking team <3 (shoutout to all my unnis hehehe)
The month of May has been all about dance performances for me. I’ve been posting a lot about the dance teams and performances I’ve been involved in, so I wrote this blog post to document the logistics and thought processes behind everything – for myself and others. Note: unlike my previous blog posts which were mostly written in one sitting, I wrote this one over the course of the entire month, so I have segmented my thoughts into 3 main parts: the past, the present, and the future.
PREFACE:
What does dance mean to me?
This is somewhat hard to capture into words because I’ve been dancing for quite a while now – about 7 or 8 years. To me, dance not only allows me to be creative but also trust my intuition. It helps me reduce stress as it feels similar to inhaling and exhaling deeply. In a world that’s always so busy, dancing allows me to get in touch with a fundamental aspect of being human: movement. Moving my body around, whether it be through performances, classes, or freestyles, feels so natural. It feels innate to groove to a beat. Furthermore, dance allows me to explore different personas while being part of a greater cause. In trying to tell a story through movement, it’s fascinating to see choreographers’ choices in musicality, styles, and formations because those choices stem from each one’s unique accumulation of dance training.
THE PAST:
Why dance while on exchange?
In the past, I led several dance groups in producing dance videos and performing on stage. More than the sparkly final stage shown to audiences, I loved the process that led up to the final results through which I was able to meet good friends and work together to build from the ground up. From selecting costumes to choosing a filming location and putting on the final makeup look, each experience was unique. Moreover, when I took dance classes in Japan, Korea, and L.A. in 2019, it became the highlights of not only those trips but also of that year. Therefore, since one of my life principles is to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t, I wanted to dance in Korea to deeply immerse myself in a community and create lifelong memories. Overall, I’m a fan of partaking in hobbies while abroad for travel (no matter the duration) because it enables maximum satisfaction.
How to find dance clubs (or just any other clubs) while on exchange?
Google → I searched for “Yonsei clubs” and “Yonsei dance team” in both Korean and English → combed through search results (Yonsei has a list of all their clubs on their website, but some aren’t listed there sometimes!)
Youtube → Searched for “Yonsei dance” in Korean and tried to trace back any dance videos to specific people that I could message through Instagram or email
Instagram → Searched for “연세 춤” (native Korean) or “연세 댄스” (English-based Korean) → skimmed through profiles
Friends of Friends → through one of my online friends, I was introduced to an international student studying at Yonsei (s/o Tyler LOL) who later told me about Yonsei’s debate team
How to join?
Search for them early → I probably started hunting for clubs in January and February, documenting them on a Google Doc and contacting them over email or Instagram
Keep track of timelines → most clubs released applications in late-February or early-March as the semester started in early March
Go through application round(s) → for all the Yonsei dance clubs I applied to, they each required a Google form application that usually asks about your prior dance training and experiences → many asked for either previous dance videos or for me to film a specific dance cover (e.g. for Kpop dance cover groups) → some even required me to interview (in Korean!) → let me just say that Papago saved (and continues to save) my life here
Feelings After K-Pop Cover in Public (Beginning of May)
Dancing in Korea was going super well. I was super hyped for all the performances to come in the month of May, even though it meant that I couldn’t travel to other cities due to being strapped down to practices in Seoul. I was excited to see how everything would unfold, with 3 upcoming performances.
Unofficial Video Here: Watch on YouTube
Official video coming soon!
Feelings After Shadows and Busking Performance (Mid-May)
I felt that I was lucky in somehow being able to manifest the visions I had for dancing in Korea. I remembered how, way back in March, I was wondering if I would even belong to one dance group in Korea, let alone three. In the beginning of the exchange term, I was sad from being rejected from 2 dance clubs, but so far, I was super thankful to have met amazing friends through the projects, performances, and classes. Through fate, I met Hoon through a class at Just Jerk Academy, which led to the guest busking opportunity in the main Hongdae performance area. Back when I took my first trip to Seoul in 2019 (for 5 days), the area was bustling with performers, and I mentally promised myself that someday that would be me. Somehow, I kept manifesting my visions into reality, and as a result, I feel more capable in manifesting future visions to come. I had learned a lot about the dance culture here, as well as the busking culture. For example, 1) you can’t accept tips if you want it to be legal, 2) you need to carry a strong speaker and 3) some ahjussis (middle-aged men) will film good 720p, 1080p, and 4K fancams of your performances.
Busking Videos Here:
Waacking Videos Here:
Indoor video coming soon!
THE PRESENT:
How does it feel after everything?
Through the exchange dance team, Yonsei K-pop cover team, and Yonsei street dance team, I’ve been able to meet both foreigners and locals. With the latter, I’ve been able to challenge not only my Korean conversational skills but my knowledge of dance terms in Korean. I’m very happy with the variety of the clubs that I joined because some teams are smaller – providing a more casual and intimate environment – and other ones are larger – providing a larger teamwork feel.
More importantly, I’ve been able to challenge myself in a style that I’ve always wanted to work harder on: waacking. When I took a waacking class in Japan in 2019, I promised myself that I would do anything it takes to come back to Asia and get trained in the style. Now, here I am – learning not only the fundamental moves of the style but also how to stylize it in freestyle and performance choreography. Moreover, these Korean waackers have much more accumulated training – private dance academies (학원), dance tutors (과외), and other teams—, so the leaders of my current team represent an amalgamated source of other waacking training sources.
Although I’ve never felt more introverted as I do when I’m dancing on an all-Korean dance team, I truly believe that these dance opportunities are rare to come by and that I will look back upon this time fondly. Being on these 3 dance teams has been such a unique experience. After all, when am I going to be in Korea again long enough to work w/ a dance team? Quite unlikely, especially after I go full-time. The intersection of each team member’s unique life path in this singular point in life–highlighted by this beautifully fleeting time in our lives called “youth”-- is something I hope to remember for a long time.
THE FUTURE:
New Aspirations
I hope to specialize in waacking for freestyles, performance teams, and studio classes back in Canada. It was one day during class when I felt this aspiration creep up to me. It’s odd because I’ve always thought of hip hop to be my specialty, with K-pop coming in second waacking third, but a conversation with my friend and fellow dancer, Jano, helped me realize why this aspiration is feasible and how to further it.
Firstly, the context about why training with a team is more powerful rather than training with a studio:
Through a team, you can learn 1) more foundational moves 2) formations and 3) more stylized choreo. An important point that Jano illuminated was that street styles always took place in garages as a social aspect for people to share. Styles like hip hop, popping, locking, krump, house and waacking were celebratory styles done at gatherings (usually in the form of cyphers). When these styles originated, studios were never the medium through which they were shared, but rather, people just found it fun to share whenever and wherever.
Secondly, context about why this training would make me stand out in Canada:
Currently, the waacking scene in Toronto is fairly limited and constrained. While there are standout waacking freestylers who usually come from Asia, such as Wild Foxy (Soyeon), waacking performance/training groups aren’t really a thug. Most people who know “waacking” in Toronto (including me before Asia) learned it from a studio. Hence, being able to get waacking training from a “real” source (such as Korean dance teams) is ever the more invaluable. The way Jano put it (and I’m quoting him here), is that “[I’m] becoming a dancer now, like a real dancer.” Yet, I still have so much to learn and solidify about waacking and other styles of dance.
Thirdly, How to Further Teach Waacking Classes from this New Training:
Jano pointed out to me that if I wanted to teach waacking classes in Canada, I need to fully understand the mechanics of waacking. I should not only film myself do the foundations so that I don’t forget, but also use the following methods to engrain the style into myself:
Memorize all the warms ups + drills I do
Drill on my own time
Start to learn more complicated pathways for your arms
Practice with musicality
Watch more experienced waackers in cyphers
Don’t be afraid to get out of my comfort zone and try something new
BONUS:
Korean Dance Terms I Learned
대각선 → diagonal
대형 → formations
네모 → square formation
세모 → triangle formation (or “V”)
동작 → movements
안무 → choreography
안무자 → choreographer
연습실 → dance studio (that you usually rent for practice)
뒷풀이 → after party get together with all performers
병신샷 → something you yell when someone fails the drinking game (use w/ caution because 병신 is actually a swear word)
새연 → short for 새벽 practice, meaning practice in the wee hours of the morning
동선 → moving line