From standing at the back, “Street Woman Fighter” dancers are moving forward to the front stage and creating a wind of change in KPOP
As Mnet’s entertainment program “Street Woman Fighter” has become a hot topic these days, dancers appearing on the show are also enjoying their idol-level popularity.
All this time, dancers have been recognized as people who help KPOP singers shine brighter on stage. But nowadays, dancers themselves are evaluated as leading artists and stars in the music industry.
“Street Woman Fighter“, which was first aired last month, is a program that shows the competition between Korean female street dancers. Episodes are released every week, and the show’s popularity keeps on increasing rapidly.
The cast, including NOZE, Monika, LeeJung, Honey J, and Aiki, have risen to the top of Good Data Corporation’s topic index and some dancers even have a fandom.
The so-called “fangirling” contents featuring “Street Woman Fighter” crews are being posted online one after another.
Videos and fancams (videos filmed by fans) edited by cutting the appearance of idols and showing only the dancers on KPOP idol stages have gained millions of views on Youtube.
After realizing that the backup dancers who they inadvertently passed by when watching music shows were the cast members of “Street Woman Fighter”, KPOP fans have started to capture pictures and clips then share them online. The number of followers on the dancers’ social media accounts increased 5 to 10 times, and the dancers have appeared more on advertisements that used to be exclusively dedicated to idols.
In particular, WAY B’s leader, NOZE, has about 2 million Instagram followers, a number that is comparable to top idols. Moreover, even new characters in the shooting game “Sudden Attack” were made and released based on the images of the dancers.
The enthusiastic reactions that the dancers are receiving at the moment is a phenomenon that we have never seen before in music history.
In fact, performances, which are considered the biggest strength of KPOP, are formed and decorated by dancers. These people also contributed to the globalization of KPOP by setting up the stage as backup dancers. However, they are not given any spotlight and be overshadowed by idols.
However, with the broadcast of ‘Street Woman Fighter”, dancers who were considered supporting roles in the KPOP world have risen to the surface.
Jung Min Jae, a pop music critic, stated, “Until the early 2010s, big companies still used choreography made by overseas dancers. However, as domestic dance crews developed, performances started to adapt KPOP choreography created by Korean choreographers.”
He continued to predict, “Through the broadcast of “Street Woman Fighter”, the public became aware of the achievements that these domestic dancers have gained. Therefore, “Street Woman Fighter” will gradually become a decisive opportunity for the domestic dance industry to grow in both quantitive and quality.”
As a result, The expansion of the Korean dance industry is also expected to contribute to the diversification of KPOP performances. This is because as the dancers’ strengths improve to the “full” level, KPOP idol’s choices of choreography will also be widened.
For example, it is reported that there were 7 dance crews in total who participated in creating the choreography of Aespa’s hit song “Next Level”. Thanks to that, the viral dance, which created the dance challenge craze among the public, was completed.
Critics Jung Min Jae also stated, “If the Korean dance world grows as big as North America and Europe’s, we can combine all these good ideas into one song. I believe we can expect higher standardization of K-pop choreography.”
Sources: nate
