The soaring popularity of K-pop music across the globe is leading to an increasing demand for fans to dance like their favorite K-pop Bands, including BTS and Blackpink.
As some universities across the U.S. are offering K-pop choreography courses, dance studios in Southern California are also bustling with K-pop dancers.
One of them is Rūts Dance Studio in the heart of Koreatown. It’s offering affordable K-pop dance classes as well as other courses on popular dance forms. The owners, Diny and Eileen Kim, are experienced professional dancers, who have worked with BTS, Blackpink and other popular K-pop groups.
“We have been open only for a few years now, but the growth we’ve been seeing is super crazy,” said Eileen Kim, who performed as a stand-in for Blackpink’s member Jisoo during the Coachella performances. “We grew up in Koreatown, and our goal was to build a community from scratch.”
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While Rūts is primarily a hip-hop-based studio, the female and minority-owned business is trying to keep up with the demand for K-pop classes.
“K-pop is such as phenomenon and craze right now,” said Diny Kim, the co-owner of the studio. “It’s choregraphed by the best of the best choreographers in the world. It’s a celebration of not just AAPI but Korean culture in general.
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For the Koreatown natives, having a community where artists come together and express themselves is giving them an additional purpose.
“It really comes back full circle,” said Diny. “Growing up here, we lacked a community, so we wanted to provide that for people here now.”
The seasoned dancers and performers said they also teach a variety of dance forms such as popping, locking and krumping to help people move and express joy.
K-pop dance classes and rates are available on the dance studio’s website as well as on its social media page.
