Thousands of miles from its origins in South Korea, Korean pop — better known as K-pop — has arrived in Chapel Hill.
UNC’s K-pop dance cover team, Unicorn, is hosting its first public workshop March 1 at 6:45 p.m. in Student Recreation Center Studio A. At the two-hour workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to learn two dance routines to popular K-pop songs.
The group meets to learn dance routines to popular K-pop songs and then records the choreography and uploads it to social media. Unicorn also performs around Chapel Hill at events and exhibitions to promote the style of dance.
In addition to private classes for members, Unicorn hosts public workshops where any students who are interested in dance can come learn a routine from two leaders. Serena Gao, vice president of Unicorn, said the group is a good opportunity to meet other students who are passionate about K-pop and want to have fun.
Unicorn President Sharon Ge started the group when she realized there was an interest in K-pop on campus, but no club for people to come together to express their passion. She said she wanted the club to be accessible for people who had an interest in dance but not much experience, unlike many of the other dance groups on campus.
“We realized there are a lot of students on campus, like there are K-pop fans that are interested in K-pop culture, but because there’s that absence of a group or club to gather them all together, they kind of just separated and enjoyed it themselves,” Kelly Wan, human resources and fundraising chair, said. “But right now, since we have this chance to create this club, we can call everyone together and enjoy K-pop culture.”
Unicorn not only focuses on dancing to songs from this genre, but also establishing a larger culture of K-pop on campus. Ge said the organization will meet outside of the dance studio to have viewing parties of K-pop performances and other activities that promote camaraderie centered around an interest in K-pop.
Ge said the group’s name Unicorn was selected because it creates a cute image for the group while also including the letters “u,” “n” and “c” to promote a good image of the school for prospective students who are interested in K-pop.
“Since we’re a club at UNC, and we want this club to be part of the UNC community and want to give back to the community, so we thought it would be a good idea to include UNC, the three characters,” Gao said.
