As Andover’s first show to celebrate popular Korean culture, last weekend’s K-Pop Club took their audience by storm with an array of dynamic performances, ranging from BTS’s “DNA” to “Runaway” by Sunmi. The diverse and engaging performances served as not only an expressive platform for JVNE and other small groups, but also as a way to send off the group’s seniors and honor the progress that K-Pop Club has made throughout the year.
Solar Lu ’24, a member of K-Pop Club, attested to the group’s long running wishes for a K-Pop show. Lu emphasized a larger interest in K-Pop, and thus a reason for their own show.
“This is something K-Pop Club has wanted to do for a really long time because we’ve always performed at individual, school-run dances or shows. I think because K-Pop Club has so much to offer and so many people are interested in K-Pop, [so] we wanted to do our own show…I think it shows that K-Pop Club has really been dedicating themselves to the club for the entire year.” said Lu.
In addition to dances, the K-Pop Club Show provided an array of innovative interactive events to engage the audience. Most notably, this performance included a karaoke segment to “Dynamite” by BTS. One of the final intermissions of the show also featured a surprise tribute to the former co-head of K-Pop Club, Phil Ko ’22. The heartfelt video showed members of the community as they talked about the ways in which Ko had impacted their Andover experience.
“[Phil is] our one and only Senior leaving the club and he’s done so much for K-Pop Club…This year he was the head and he really took on a leadership role in the dances…I think he impacted each of us in different ways. He was a Day Student Mentor for some of us last year and he does the same sport as some other people… He’s just a really cool guy, so we thought, ‘Why not have everyone put in a little bit of effort and put something nice together for him?’” said Sarah Zhang ’24, a board member of K-Pop Club.
What made K-Pop Club Show a special experience for individual performers was the extent to which it allowed both experienced and newer performers to display their passion to the wider Andover community. Expressing appreciation for the opportunity and optimism for the future, Zhang hopes to continue to hold K-Pop Club Shows in the years to come.
“This whole experience was so very special to me. It means so much to me to bring something very niche, like K-Pop, that I’m very interested in and bring people together…and put on a performance for other people that even may not have known much about K-Pop…to see that it’s something kind of cool and being able to showcase people’s talents through this kind of media. I think this whole thing was just really special and I hope it can happen next year and years after that,” said Zhang.
