My First KPop Dance: Red Flavor

During the summers, I teach a summer program and one of the classes offered is music. At the end of the summer program, the students are to choreograph their own dances and perform in front of their peers and parents.

This year, the teachers decided to surprise the hard-working students with a dance number ourselves. I was against this as I can barely slow dance without looking like a fool. I only agreed when KPop songs were an option.

With 2 of the teachers having a dance background, the males were in for a rough time. The initial goal was to dance the whole song, but it was quickly discovered two weeks wasn’t enough for me to learn and dance a new song. I had a hard time keeping in time and certain moves were out of my league.

We settled on the pre-chorus and chorus portion of Red Flavor, a certified summer bop. I’ve always been in awe of dancers and the control they have over their bodies, and this experience cemented that even more. I have a new appreciation of the time and effort dancers put into their craft while striving for perfection.

The hardest part for me was being the center as I had to the choreography without anyone to reference during the performance. It was certainly frustrating and disheartening at times because everyone quickly grasped the choreography while I was still stuck doing the song at 50% speed. However, as the old adage goes, practice makes perfect. Day by day, improvements were made and I was able to get through the whole section at normal speed.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t clean or perfect, but it was an unforgettable experience. Who knows, maybe I will be able to participate in random plays one day.