AATK COLLOQUIUM – Fall 2025

K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media

8:00 – 9:30 PM EST

Virtual via Zoom (Open to Public)

The Zoom link will only be sent to the registered participants as the event approaches.

Please register HERE (Click).

2025 Fall Colloquium poster (clickable pdf)

(Abstract) This talk focuses on 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 author traces the evolution of K-pop dance from the 1980s to the 2020s and explains its distinctive feature called ‘gestural point choreography’ – front-driven, two-dimensional, decorative and charming movements of the upper body and face – as an example of what the author theorizes as ‘social media dance.’ It also explores K-pop cover dance as a form of intercultural performance, suggesting that, by imitating and idolizing K-pop dance, fans are ultimately ‘fandoming’ themselves and their bodies. The talk also shares insights from her latest publication, To Dreamers: K-pop Dance Education (Routledge, 2026) including the global hit Netflix animation K-pop Demon Hunters. Presenting an ethnographic study of K-pop dance and its fandom, this talk will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Media Studies, Korean Studies, and Performance Studies.