{"id":13998,"date":"2016-12-14T16:47:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=13998"},"modified":"2016-12-14T16:47:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:47:47","slug":"interview-with-london-k-pop-dance-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/interview-with-london-k-pop-dance-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with London K-Pop Dance Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tammy, 30, founder and Caroline, 27, co-founder discuss the importance of their workshops and Korean culture in London.<\/h2>\n

Reporter: Chelsea Jobe | Sub-editor: Martina Di Gregorio<\/h3>\n
\"Credit:

Credit: Chelsea Jobe<\/p><\/div>\n

Sweat-soaked students spilled out of Abacus Studios to catch their breath. They had been learning a dance routine before I had arrived. Monster by South Korean boy group EXO.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Tammy, the founder of London K-Pop Dance Workshop, I asked why she started dance workshops specifically for Korean Pop music.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to learn a particular K-Pop dance so I looked on YouTube for videos. There were a lot of covers online and I didn\u2019t realise it was a thing. I thought some of these people are doing it wrong, not that I know it but from watching it over and over again I was sure they were doing it wrong. If it was thing, then there should be classes because there was nothing in London at the time. I met Caz and I knew she was a fan of K-Pop and had a dance background so I said why don\u2019t we try and start a class during the summer holidays. However, after the first workshop, our plan didn\u2019t work. We ended up having a workshop every month for five years.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The co-founder, Caroline known as Caz, agreed: “It was a fantastic idea. I was listening to J-Pop for a really long time and was introduced to K-Pop by Koda Kumi, a Japanese singer, who sang a duet with TVXQ. I YouTubed them and I was like this isn\u2019t Japanese [laughs] but I\u2019d always seen J-Pop artists have similar dance routines. I really wanted to do it, but I didn\u2019t know anyone who liked J-Pop. So when I met Tammy and she suggested starting dance classes, it felt like I\u2019d found my calling in life. It was really exciting because I finally found someone who I could dance and do covers with.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Five years later, they have established a name for themselves. Including a dance team called LoKo who were sent to Seoul, Korea to perform at a global competition.<\/p>\n

“Initially we weren’t thinking about forming a team.”<\/p>\n

Caz said: “It was just for us to demonstrate to people on the outside that we can dance and this is why you should come to our workshops [laughs].”<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst speaking about Korean Culture in London, they expressed how they’ve grown as a community. Tammy said: “Our workshops have built a community within K-Pop for people who like to dance.\u00a0Even though the initial idea was not for it to be sociable, it has become sociable.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“We share the same interest and we don’t judge because we like something that’s foreign.”<\/p>\n

Read the full interview in Savage magazine<\/a> (Issue 1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tammy, 30, founder and Caroline, 27, co-founder discuss the importance of their workshops and Korean culture in London. Reporter: Chelsea Jobe | Sub-editor: Martina Di Gregorio Sweat-soaked students spilled out of Abacus Studios to catch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,92],"tags":[1690,2128,3195,3437,4322,6753],"class_list":["post-13998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-music","tag-dance","tag-entertainment","tag-interview","tag-k-pop","tag-music","tag-voice-of-london"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t