By Nadine Kam I
Last year we were doing two Kpop dance classes every Saturday, one boy group and one girl group. The boy dance was EXO’s “Love Shot,” so that class was full. The young students, as do I, prefer boy dances over girl dances, especially the really femme ones like Sistar’s “Alone.”
The song and music video were released way back in 2012, so the younger generation can’t relate to this era of hypersexuality, that for many of us, gave K-pop of that era such a bad name with its objectification of women. At that time, the audience was largely middle-aged Japanese men so they catered to this demographic, presenting a cringe-y unrealistic and outmoded view of women with all this gratuitous pandering with songs like “Touch my Body.” Please!!!
That’s why I post most of the class videos to my IG, but not this one. I probably spent 20 year saying “I don’t like K-pop” because of groups like Sistar, and these days, Twice.
As much as I really, really, really hate dances like this, I just learn them for the practice, both physically and mentally in trying to strengthen my memory. And honestly, these types of dances are much harder than they looks. As painful as it is to watch them and all the other prancy, bouncy cloying girl dances, they are all just as difficult as the most energetic boy dances, perhaps because they require more control.
I am just happy that we now have groups like Mamamoo, (G)-Idle and Itzy that present a stronger image of sexy women and more powerful dances. Itzy dances top most male dances for difficulty, in fact moreso because they do floor work that is hard to recover from. When we did the dance break of Itzy’s “Icy,” we couldn’t get up off the floor, and their latest “Wannabe” dance break floor work is even more difficult!