K-pop Dance

Based on her book K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media (Routledge, 2022), Dr. Chuyun Oh explains K-pop dance and the evolution and presence of its dance fandom on social media. Based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, choreography, and participation observation with 40 amateur and professional K-pop dancers in New York, California, and Seoul, the book traces the evolution of K-pop dance from the 1980s to the 2020s and explains its distinctive feature called ‘gestural point choreography’ as an example of what she theorizes as ‘social media dance.’ The book also explores K-pop cover dance as a form of intercultural performance, suggesting that, by imitating and idolizing K-pop dance, fans are eventually ‘fandoming’ themselves and their bodies.

 

Chuyun Oh (PhD. UT Austin) is a Fulbright scholar and Associate Professor of Dance Theory at San Diego State University. Her book K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media (Routledge) became the #1 Amazon New Release in Communications and Pop Dance in July 2022. Her award-winning scholarship has appeared in global media, top-tier journals, and anthologies. During her early career as a dancer, she received her ballet training at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Washington, DC., and the Sun Hwa Arts School, Korea and performed across the world receiving international dance competition awards. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hamilton College, NY. She serves on the editorial board of Text and Performance Quarterly and Review of Communication.