No fewer than 50 talented youths on Friday graduated from the Korea Cultural Centre in Nigeria (KCCN) in the 2024 K-pop Dance and Vocal Academy in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that K-pop is Korean popular music, which comes in the form of popular music originating from South Korea as part of their culture.
Ms Jennifer Ezeonyeasi, Cultural Event and Communication officer of KCCN said the K-pop academy dance class comes up yearly, but they decided to have a dance and vocal academy just like in 2023.
Ezeonyeasi said that the 2023 vocal class lasted for two weeks but KCCN decided to extend it this year due to the tremendous response by participants.
“Today is the graduation ceremony of dance and vocal classes that lasted for one month.
” We are here for the participants to showcase their talents based on what they have learnt for this period.
” K-pop dance is just like cultural exchange between Korea and Nigeria. Nigerians are talented in dance and music which is one thing they share in common with Korea,” she said.
According to her, the dance and vocal academy is a platform to have a community of dancers, to enable them to discover new talents for both K-pop and Nigerian dance artists.
” Usually for the classes, we do not have prizes, rather we award some best students.
“At the end, they will be issued certificates of participation, which guarantee them to apply for any Korea-related opportunities.
” The certificates given to them today show that they are involved in Korean culture,” she said.
Also speaking, Ms Chidinma Tobins, Administrative officer of KCCN, said the centre aimed at spreading the Korean culture to infuse in Nigerian youths.
According to her, their perspective is to spread the options of language and K-pop at the same time, the reason why participants sang Korean songs.
” This is a way to tell Korea that their culture is coming to the grassroots of Nigeria, by learning a bit of their songs and language through this event.
“Many of them also go ahead with programmes that KCCN offers, by getting information for the centre and some have gone to Korea due to their talents,” she said.
Some of the graduates who spoke with NAN expressed excitement about graduating from the K-pop academy.
They said that K-pop has exposed them to numerous dancing steps, adding that K-pop is an embodiment of creativity, passion and diversity.
Miss Jacintha Attah, a dancer, said registering in the K-pop academy was amazing from the beginning of the programme to the end.
According to her, the dance tutors assigned to them were friendly and accommodating, reasons why they all excelled in the programme.
“The experience was overwhelming, as a dancer when I heard about the K-pop academy, I quickly registered in order to boost my talent in dance,” she said.
Oluwadare Michael, a dancer, said K-pop has given him the opportunity to learn more about the various dimensions of dance that he never knew.
” Initially, I did not know that dance has details, K-pop has enlightened me to learn a lot about various dimensions of dance.
” I am so attracted to Korean culture due to the K-pop dance and I am not regretting going through this school because this has always been my desire,” he said.
Miss Rosemary Oluwamuyiwa, the best vocal student, said K-pop was more than just a music genre.
She said that the impact of K-pop is more than entertainment, because of the vital role it plays in promoting South Korea’s image globally.
” I really want to appreciate KCCN for coming up with such an initiative that has helped many to develop their talents,” she said.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of certificates to the graduates, dance and music performances by the graduates and award ceremony in different categories.
Miss Precious Ayeni, and Winifred Eziuloh among others received the award of best attendance, while Oluwamuyiwa and Miss Joy Ossai were vocal best students.
The best dance students included Mercy Odey, Favour Agbonike, Joseph Uhiene and Onyinyechi Ibezim.
