Article by Ella Mariano Graphics by Chi Hong Wong
November 30, 2021
For the past decades, we have seen the boom of K-Pop throughout the globe. K-Pop groups have shown the world that they can keep up (and even exceed) the standards of Western entertainment. Preparations for every performance are crucial to make audiences interested and make them look flawless in front of the eyes of millions. In every K-Pop group performance that you watch, there are people behind their success - one of these is their dancers. Only a few know about what it’s like to be a choreographer or a backup dancer. Luckily, MNET, a South Korean television music channel,decided to give us a glimpse of a dancer’s world.
Street Woman Fighter is a dance survival program by MNET wherein eight female dance crews come to battle it out on the dance floor and win a trophy, a sponsorship deal with Budweiser, and a cash prize of 50,000,000 Korean won. Well-respected dancers joined the show in hopes of showcasing their skills and maintaining their reputation in the industry. The groups are the following: LACHICA, YGX, WANT, PROWDMON, WAYB, HOOK, HolyBang, and CocaNButter. Groups consisting of choreographers for K-Pop idols, an olympian, an ex-idol, and even a teacher of all teachers make this show worth watching. Also, there’s a lot of dance genres that you’re yet to know about while watching this show. With judges like choreographer Hwang Sanghoon, and K-Pop idols BoA and NCT’s Taeyong, the mentioned groups will face every mission and give their best to show off their crew’s signature.
Watching this survival show will not only be a feast for the eyes, but you also get to earn a huge amount of respect for these women. You get to learn about their hardships as a dancer, how they try their best to make a name for themselves. They constantly have to prove their worth, not only to the judges, but also to the audiences who will be voting for them every week. We never thought about how important these dancers are in the entertainment industry until you see well-known idols meeting up with them and giving them songs for them to create their creative spin to it.
This generation in K-pop has brought a new perspective on dancers in the entertainment industry - that they’re more than just people at the back. They interpret songs into movement, giving them more color. Their choreographies became a way to connect artists and fans, like how fans cover K-Pop dances on TikTok. With shows like these, dancers become a new hybrid of celebrities that we never knew existed. As the Hallyu Wave gets bigger, MNET is preparing for another tide of dance groups as SWF (Street Woman Fighter) gets a spinoff called “Street Dance Girl Fighter” wherein high school female dance groups get to shine. The said program is set to air by the end of the year.
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