CASSIE SLOAN
sloancj@lopers.unk.edu

UNK-Pop, a student dance collaboration, transitions into being a self-sufficient and sustained group by holding their own “K-Pop Dance Showcase.”  The event was held to display the dancing talents of UNK-Pop, created by Rebekah and Hannah Petersen and was free to all attendants.

The Petersens began creating UNK-Pop in the fall of 2018, their first semester at UNK. The sisters wanted to share their love of Korean pop with their peers and bring the dance style to the Kearney community. 

UNK-Pop officially began in the spring of 2019, but this next spring semester will be the first time the group will perform at the Korean Festival. At first, the group only had about 10 members, this fall, there are 26 in total. The group now performs at various events and, like the showcase, holds their own events as well. However, the group is still recruiting; while dance experience is not needed, coordination is looked for in auditionees. 

Nearly all the performed dances are covers of real K-pop dances so there is very little to no original choreography. Most of the practices are generally fast-paced, since there are quite a few complicated dances to learn and perfect in one semester before the showcase. Each dance is about 4 minutes in length. 

“Hannah and I learn all of the parts to the dances we will do in a semester, usually six dances,” Rebekah Petersen said. “Then we teach the members their dances at practice.”

Being the first fall semester in its existence, this was the first of UNK-Pop’s fall dance showcases, although they also had one in the spring of this year. In spring, the group performed at the International Food Festival and even the Japanese Festival. The Petersen sisters hope to attend the Asian Festival in Omaha in the future. The sisters hope that the group will become more well known in the community. 

 The Petersens look forward to a bright future, despite not knowing what it will bring. 

“I am not sure what UNK-POP will look like in the near future [though] because Hannah and I will be studying abroad in South Korea for 9 months,” Rebekah said. “Luckily, we are talking to a good friend of ours about taking over the club while we are away, so I am not worried.”