K-Motion 7.0 | By Renee Leyyi & Kenji
Illustration by Kwai Pin.
That was the opening scene of K-Motion 7.0 by K-Generation of Taylor's University. It happened on the 24th of July 2022 in the Grand Hall of Taylor's Lakeside Campus. This event is a club’s tradition that has been held for a while now. It gathers dance groups from all over Malaysia to showcase their talents on stage.
Stunning Performances
K-Gen first got the crowd excited with JYP's Who's Your Mama? and a rendition of PRODUCE101's Bang Bang. The competition started right after that with 19(C.)'s sassy, diva-like dance cover to Whatta Man by I.O.I.. NZ-19 came after with Good Boy Gone Bad by TXT, with their smooth adaptation of the smug, bad boy concept..
DistriXt pumped the audience up with Wonderland and Pirate King by ATEEZ. DistriXt member, Jason’s sequence of high notes gave us all goosebumps, even though we knew it was a lip sync performance.
After every performance, the emcees—Shahrul and Henry—would come on stage to engage the audience by inviting the contestants to interact with them. They maintained the hyped-up energy with their endless puns, jokes, and spontaneous improvisations.
Next, we witnessed the debut of iJimi, a newly formed group that came all the way from Pahang. They took up the challenge of performing choreographies from a mainstream group—As If It’s Your Last and Lovesick by BlackPink. When asked about how they formed their group, they revealed an issue that people outside of Kuala Lumpur may face, which is that they had a hard time finding people who have an interest in K-Pop and dancing where they’re from.
SCARLET took over the stage dancing to Picky Picky by Weki Meki. Though they were the youngest group, the girls showed no sign of nervousness. Their youngest member is only 12 years old! They caught the eyes of the audience with their quirky facial expressions and strong stage presence.
DistriXt pumped the audience up with Wonderland and Pirate King by ATEEZ. DistriXt member, Jason’s sequence of high notes gave us all goosebumps, even though we knew it was a lip sync performance.
After every performance, the emcees—Shahrul and Henry—would come on stage to engage the audience by inviting the contestants to interact with them. They maintained the hyped-up energy with their endless puns, jokes, and spontaneous improvisations.
Next, we witnessed the debut of iJimi, a newly formed group that came all the way from Pahang. They took up the challenge of performing choreographies from a mainstream group—As If It’s Your Last and Lovesick by BlackPink. When asked about how they formed their group, they revealed an issue that people outside of Kuala Lumpur may face, which is that they had a hard time finding people who have an interest in K-Pop and dancing where they’re from.
SCARLET took over the stage dancing to Picky Picky by Weki Meki. Though they were the youngest group, the girls showed no sign of nervousness. Their youngest member is only 12 years old! They caught the eyes of the audience with their quirky facial expressions and strong stage presence.
X.ROSE.
First Intermission Fun
During the first intermission, we visited the vendor booths at the Student Life Centre Walkway. They had freshly made Korean food, K-Gen merchandise, K-Pop merchandise, a photo booth, games and homemade desserts. The games were very fun despite the short duration and consisted of popular games from Korean Variety Shows and Game Shows. One of our favourites was the ‘Whisper Challenge’where a player would have to guess what the other player was saying while wearing a pair of headphones. Sounds easy, right? Well trust me it's not, because trying to read someone’s lips while loud music is blasting into your ears can be rather challenging if I do say so myself.
One of our vendors.
On With the Show…
The second session started off with SN19’s cover of SCREAM by Dreamcatcher. To quote one of the judges, Stoppie: “I was watching you guys so much that I didn’t write many comments.”Next, we have AS NINE performing memeM by Purple Kiss. AS NINE picked a strong choreography with a catchy hook and performed with good execution. Their matching red and black outfits dazzled us and brought vibrance to the stage.
THE6.
In my (Renee) opinion, THE6 had one of the most stable performances. As soon as they were announced, the crowd went wild, proving their popularity among K-Pop dance enthusiasts. The boy group definitely lived up to their name with their dynamic execution and great energy control. Their striking red and white costumes elevated their visual performance. One of their members, Brandon, said this when asked to say a few words to their fans: “Thank you to those who cheered. ‘Cause for people who dance, you'll know that it's very hard to continue if there's no energy coming back. So thank you guys!”
As the music began for NINJ9Z, there was a reaction among the crowd. It was the same song as the previous group! It was interesting to see two varying interpretations of MOVE by TNX back-to-back. Their costumes also directly contrasted THE6’s with a black and yellow combo.
During Valerinx’s performance of Wings by PIXY, I gasped and then held my breath. This was no doubt one of the most complicated choreographies performed in this competition. Their performance was a handful of detailed hand movements and formations. Valerinx embodied their concept extremely well—turning the stage into a secret forest where they became a group of wicked witches carrying out their ritual.
Competition judge, Stoppie, remarked, “I could really feel your performance, your concept.”
Revolution wowed us next, with their flashy outfits and energetic moves. Their upbeat song choice emphasised their big movements. B4ever followed with their amazing dance cover of LOVE DIVE by IVE. Their cute school-themed outfits and great choreography made for a fun performance. Later in the night, CHECKMATE performed to this same song. Both groups wowed the audience with their own unique performances.
K-Gen.
After a short break, we got right back into the entertainment and straight into GALAXY X’s amazing performance. Their performance was a throwback to early EXO and included the songs Monster and Wolf. It was everything fans could ever ask for.
The night was filled with many more amazing performances like EVERMORE’s performance of Paint The Town by LOONA, VOISONOUS dancing to VIVACE by LIGHTSUM, Leonas covering FEARLESS by LE SERRAFIM and D’Mez performing to Got that Boom by SECRET NUMBER.
Leonas.
The Champion Team
X-Venus brought us a memorable performance of GingaMingaYo by Billlie. They were astounding as a group yet each of them stood out in their own way. They captured our attention with their lively facial expressions and their energetic moves along with the fun, catchy music. With the black and pink costumes, X-Venus’s image reminded me of the duo, Melody and Kuromi—a perfect ratio of bubbly and cute, and sassy and mischievous. X-Venus was no doubt the champion in our hearts too!An End to a Good Night
I got Purr by VIVIZ & Kep1er stuck in my head after watching K-Gen’s last performance of the day. The charisma exuded by the performers was undeniably enticing.Tina who performed under K-Gen for the first time had this to say, “I think the choreographies chosen by K-Gen were all very visually-pleasing. About my experience, I don’t think the practices these few months were tiring or taxing at all, because all I had to do was dance, and it’s something I enjoy.”
“I’m just happy to be able to perform on stage, as these opportunities don’t come easily. I’m honoured to see so many talented people coming together for this event. I also really liked how the supportive crowd shouted fan chants throughout the performances,” said En Qi, who danced in Hikaru’s position for Purr. “Join K-Gen!” she added.
The show wasn’t completely over though. The competition judges got in on the fun as well, with our first judge, Andy “Nd”, performing a rendition of Taemin’s Medley.
Andy "Nd"
Judge Stoppie also stunned the audience with his performance of Filter by Jimin.
Stoppie.
As a MIDZY fan myself (Kenji), I was really happy to see ITZY Yeji and Ryujin’s duet of Break My Heart Myself by Bebe Rexha being performed by Judge JingHan “JH” and her partner.
Jinghan.
To end the event, Denise, one of the event’s organisers, surprised us with a solo performance. Her beautiful voice elicited cheers from the crowd, and she was shortly joined by K-Gen members who danced and sang with her.
K-Motion 7.0 succeeded not only in gathering a crowd but in uniting people with one common interest—K-Pop. It was an event that produced smiles and created new friendships.
Nicholas, who performed in K-Gen’s opening performance said, “K-Motion brought strangers together through K-Pop. The other performers and committee were strangers to me initially, but now we act freely around each other after all the bonding during dance practices.
He paused for a while, “ To me, in the end, no matter if the event seems good or bad towards others. I think it was enough for me.”
For CJ and Denise, co-chairs of the event organising team, K-Motion 7.0 means so much.
“K-MOTION 7.0 represents our comeback year this 2022 when we organise our first physical event after so long,” says CJ. “It meant a lot to us as people looking forward to our new batch and latest updates.”
According to Denise, this event was a huge stepping stone and her first large-scale event as a student leader. She cherished the chance she got to perform on stage with the committee saying, “I guess the synergy among the committee members made me feel loved as we are very close with one another despite only knowing each other for less than a year. Besides that, I‘ve always liked singing and I missed performing for people.”
The K-Gen committee.
This event also helped shed light on some obstacles often faced by dance coverists. The most common one that was mentioned was how team dynamics can be difficult to form and how progress can be easily delayed if there is a change in team members.
We, as a part of the audience, are also grateful for an event like this. It is not every day that we get to enjoy hours of bass-boosted K-Pop music with performances by talented dancers. Events like K-Motion make K-Pop more accessible to others while providing an honourable stage for K-Pop dancers. This space created for K-Pop lovers appreciates the simplicity of liking something and the togetherness it brings among people.
You can follow K-Generation on Instagram @kgentaylors.
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