After dancing competitively for 10 years, U1 Computer Science student Ellie Lock looked to join a dance crew with a strong sense of community during her first year at McGill. When she auditioned for K-RAVE in the fall of 2023, she realised she had found it. “The community of going to an audition and not feeling scrutinized was very nice,” she said. “I thought, ‘Hmmm, maybe this is something I should stick with…’ I’m glad I made that decision.”
Similarly, U1 Political Science student Charlotte Gillogley, who joined the team at the start of the winter semester, credits that same collaborative spirit in K-RAVE along with her interest in K-pop as to why she joined the club’s Communications Team. “I had a friend who was an exec, and it seemed like a really good community,” she said. “I heard lots of funny stories about the different execs and how they were all super nice.”
On March 22, K-RAVE, McGill’s K-pop and Korean entertainment club, hosted their 6th annual showcase, Haute Kouture, at Le National. The event featured songs by artists like BTS, aespa, TWICE,
and Enhypen, and it was the product of a year-long effort by both dancers and executives. Dancers can additionally hold responsibilities as Performance Executives, who organize practice schedules, book studios, and send out song suggestion forms, or as Dance Leaders, who lead performances, distribute parts equally among dancers, and provide feedback.
According to U3 Science and Pharmacology student Emilie Jarman, whose roles include VP Performance and dance leader, responsibilities for dancers ramp up over the course of the school year. In fall, dancers are expected to work on one cover posted to YouTube and practice roughly 2-4 hours a week, while in winter, showcase preparation can require up to 10 hours. Jarman performed in songs “Shhh!” by Viviz, “Dangerous” by BOYNEXTDOOR, “Strategy” by TWICE, and a BTS Medley, and was a dance leader for the latter two. She led the “Strategy” team by herself due to her expertise in performing girl-group styles of dance, and co-led the Medley with Annie Nguyen, Christine Wu, and
Sien Pei. Preparation for the medley began well before the school year started, with a four-hour-long call to decide which songs to include.
K-Pop incorporates a variety of genres into its production, and thus, the setlist for the showcase featured a range of dance styles. Alongside dancing in the Street Woman Fighter Medley and “Igloo” by Kiss of Life, Lock was especially excited to perform the Throwback Girl Group Medley under the leadership of her friend Frida Hou, and challenged herself by learning to dance in heels. “For the Girl Group Medley, every time they put the suggestion sheet out since I joined the club, I had put it in there,” she said. “The challenge came in when we started thinking about unified performance and when we all threw a pair of heels on […] Heels completely change the way you dance, but we all managed that really well.”
While leading her team, Jarman strived to establish a feeling of community as much as she emphasized practice, in order to help dancers feel welcome to voice their thoughts. Although she had not practiced with many of the dancers before the semester, she ultimately led them to success in creating a strong team dynamic. “Each week, each group gets closer and closer. Everyone gets more comfortable talking to each other or sharing corrections,” she said. “[Knowing] how people think or communicate is what gets the group to have good chemistry so that you can have a good performance.”
Although dancers perform in different songs and some may never be in an act together, it does not stop them from fostering a sense of community with one another. On the day of the showcase, Lock recalled how Tini Liu made the effort to talk to all of the other dancers and snap a memory with each of them with a digital camera. “During the showcase, she was going around with this digital camera, asking everyone to take a picture with her, and I thought that was so sweet,” she said. “Before, I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to meet her cause I wasn’t practising at the same time as her, and I thought it was a great way to talk to people and get those memories.” The cooperative effort extends from the dance practice rooms at the Fieldhouse to Leacock, where executives attend weekly meetings on Wednesdays. Although executives are divided into teams to carry out different tasks, they often collaborate with one another. The Communications team, for example, worked with Production to create content for the showcase’s sponsors and collaborated with Graphics for Social Media promotion. On the day of the showcase, while dancers practiced on stage, Gillogley and the rest of the Communications team ran around backstage to create a plethora of content to advertise the showcase on TikTok and Instagram. “It was a very fun bonding moment, especially as a new exec,” she said. “No one would judge someone for their idea. It was a very supportive environment, and I think we had a lot of fun making videos together.”
According to Lock, K-RAVE became her family when she was new to university. Over the years, she noticed that the audition pool has increased since she applied to become a dancer, and is overjoyed that more people are interested in joining the club. “K-RAVE is a great opportunity to have a built-in community when you’re coming to a new place,” she said. “I have this really great group of people that I get to hang out with every Saturday when we go to practice, and maybe grab a coffee after.” Jarman, who graduates at the end of the semester, said she will look back at her three years in K-RAVE with fond memories, thankful for the friendships formed, the confidence she developed, and the passion for dance it fostered. “K-RAVE has made my university experience […] Participating in K-RAVE has given me a lot of opportunities to be able to go out of my comfort zone and talk to new people and express how I feel,” she said. “I just hope the club continues to grow and that it continues to be a space for people to come together and destress from school or life while doing what makes them happy.”