by “The thought of being able to perform a K-pop performance on stage with friends from other countries around the world makes me so excited and happy.”
When I arrived outside the Gem Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on the afternoon of the 2nd (local time), I heard a mixture of cheerful K-pop music and the audience’s cheers. When I entered the concert hall on the 5th floor, it was crowded with about 1,000 Vietnamese young people. In their hands, they held a luminous stick with the phrase ‘My Soul Seoul’ written on them and a sign saying cheering for their favorite K-pop stars. Eventually, as the K-pop cover bands performed cover dances to the songs of BLACKPINK and Lisa, the audience cheered and waved luminous sticks.
The event held on this day was the ‘K-Pop Cover Dance Festival in Vietnam,’ a grand festival for K-pop fans worldwide. It is an event where foreigners addicted to K-pop imitate the dances of Korean idol groups.
The K-Pop Cover Dance Festival, which marks its 12th anniversary this year, hosted by the Seoul newspaper, is the world’s first and largest K-pop online and offline event. It is trying to expand the base of K-Pop and Hallyu by providing a more youthful and global image of the country. Winners will be selected from 14 countries, including the Vietnam final, and the final will be held in Seoul in October. The finalists will meet a K-pop idol group and learn K-pop dance from a famous choreographer.
Choi Gyeong-ju, director of the Seoul Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, “There were about 9,000 people who applied for the event, but only 900 people were selected because of COVID-19 and safety issues. It drew a lot of attention from the locals to the extent that there were protests such as, ‘I bought a plane ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh (northern), can’t you let me in?'” he said.
In the final stage in Vietnam, nine teams competed fiercely, and the 6-member cover dance team HE: even won the championship. They covered Black Pink member Lisa’s first single album, ‘Larisa’ and ‘Money.’ The song is a K-pop global hit that has been recording both the first and second positions on the international charts until recently, ten months after the release of the sound source. The group includes LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) members and has been active together for seven years since its team’s formation in 2015.
They were moved to tears when the announcement of the championship was announced. The members of the Heaven team said, “The tears flowed non-stop as they seemed to be comforted by the hard times that the team members put effort and passion together.” Heaven team leader Bin Nguyen said, “I am so excited and happy just thinking about being able to perform on stage with friends from all over the world.
Meanwhile, on this day, the Vietnam event, a K-pop cover dance festival, was held as part of the ‘My Soul Seoul’ event. This is a meeting prepared by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as keywords of ‘beauty, fashion, and K-pop’ to try to take another leap forward in Seoul tourism, which has been stagnant due to Corona 19. Aiming at Hallyu fans, they also held a concert of Dance Crew Hook, which is gaining popularity as a street woman fighter, and the popular idol Highlight.
Mayor Oh Se-hoon appeared on the runway with a white coat at the ‘mini fashion show’ held before the cover dance event that day. The mini fashion show is an event where you can see at a glance K-fashion, from street fashion in Seoul to hanbok, as well as the stage of famous make-up artists Sojung and hair artist Kiwoo targeting the younger generation of Ho Chi Minh City.
When Mayor Oh appeared, the local audience cheered and chanted ‘Oh Se-hun’ for a while, and Mayor Oh laughed, saying, ‘Oh,’ as if curiously. Mayor Oh said, “I was shocked when I heard that Korea is Vietnam’s most popular foreign country. He will repay your love for Seoul by providing a lot of cool and enjoyable space as the mayor of Seoul, and he will wait for you with a warm heart.”
