Recently, a show called 스트릿 우먼 파이터 (Street Woman Fighter, often abbreviated as SWF or 스우파 in Korean) is becoming a big issue in South Korea. The show invited 8 crews of female dancers and ran competitions among them. For freestyle dance battles, one of the dancers calls out another one, and they dance to a random song together. Then the rest of the dancers will vote and rank the crews. They also have a lot of collaborations with singers and idols, where the crews either dance with the idols or choreograph for the singer’s song and perform. A part of the competition was to choreograph for a new song by the singer Jessi, and the choreography chosen by Jessi will be used as the choreography for the song forever and performed in her music video. As a fan of Jessi and dancing, I found it very interesting to see different styles of dances for the same song. The music video is very well made, and because of the high quality of the choreography, it has now become a trend on Tik Tok in South Korea.
Even before I watched the show, I love dancing and enjoy watching different kinds of dance performances. Even though I knew that there are a lot of excellent dancers in South Korea, there were not many ways for me to know about their stories and their lives. I did not know how they choreograph, how the crew works, and what they actually do for life, etc. After the show ended, I watched a lot of interviews and variety shows of the crew leaders. I am so glad to see that their stories are now heard by the public. Before the show, some of the dancers were known as the back dancer of an idol, but now they are more known as “dancers” themselves.
There are also a lot more opportunities now for them to introduce their dance and choreography skills to the rest of the world. For example, from a variety show named 아는 형님 (Knowing brothers), I learned that Lee Jung is the choreographer for a lot of K-pop idols, such as ITZY and TWICE. I love the dances and the performances so much, but I was never aware that she was the choreographer. They also mentioned in another interview that there is no such thing as copyright for dance in South Korea since it is very hard to identify if the moves are copied from another dance. Therefore, unlike songwriters, even though their dance got well-known and was performed by different groups a thousand times, the choreographers are paid the same amount. I believe it is now a starting point where they now have the opportunities to share their stories and thoughts on things like these.
Sources:
(ENG) "뽐낼 건 뽐내야지" 춤 알려달랬더니 숭한 것만 잔뜩 알려주고 간 스우파 리더 쌤들ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ / [문명특급 EP.221-1] - YouTube
(ENG) 전국민이 다 춘 헤이마마 춤, 이 정도면 노제 씨 한강뷰 아파트 한 채는 마련하셨겠지? (순수한 궁금증) / [문명특급 EP.222-2] - YouTube
Jessi (제시) - Cold Blooded (with 스트릿 우먼 파이터 (SWF)) MV - YouTube
[ENGSUB] Knowing Bros Ep 307 Part 4 - YouTube
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