Сетевое издание

Международный студенческий научный вестник

ISSN 2409-529X

In this article I would like to talk about the topic of the so-called “cover dance”. I want to notice the attitude to it both abroad and in Russia. But I have more to say about our country, because we got into different situations with the team or heard about them.

To begin with, it is worth explaining what a cover dance is.

Cover Dance is a repetition of already choreographed choreographies that were shown in music videos or at performances by k-pop artists.

Even if it sounds just like “repetition”, in fact it is a very difficult task. Cover dancers need to try to make out the choreography, their parts as cleanly as possible, hear the music correctly and equally, work on acting and appearance.

I think that the main difference between cover dance and other dance styles is that different styles are combined here. You have to learn something new all the time. Dancers often attend various workshops to improve their technique.

Male choreographies require more endurance and muscle strength, and female choreographies, for the most part, are more focused on the smoothness of movements. But there are also very energy-consuming female or more or less simple male choreographies. It all depends on the song and the people who put on the dance.

By the way, idols often do this themselves, which makes them even more admired.

People can dance solo, duo, trio or in a team. It all depends on them. Someone is more comfortable working only with himself and moving forward independently while someone is looking for a team. This is of course the choice of people. In any case, you can safely cooperate and help each other. But sometimes it is difficult to get into the team if your skill does not reach the required level or due to the character. This too is already being decided individually.

Many people have seen how boys and/or girls in beautiful costumes, with makeup and hairstyles made like the idols whose party they got can dance on the street.

But, of course, in addition to a similar image, you need to dance well so that the dancers themselves and the audience like it.

As for the public…Sometimes covers are recorded in crowded places (e.g., shopping mall, park, etc.). In the title of the video they even write “IN PUBLIC".

But people's reactions can be completely different.

I watch a lot of covers from different countries and mostly people stand quietly and watch or pass by. Perhaps a lot remains behind the scenes, but since I live in Russia I can tell you about a few reactions that I was “lucky enough” to see:

1 – people just watch and/or shoot, but no negative reaction towards the dancers should be;

2 – people passing by who can just take a look at what is happening;

3 – those who climb into the frame during the shooting. Such people are very annoying with their comments and lack of respect for decency;

4 – those who teach life. I had to hear very interesting “lessons” when they simply devalued what the dancers were doing. This is what they called dancing for money and everything like that.

5 – people shoot and post videos on the Internet, where they then insult us and talk about “TikTok". It's also unpleasant to see this in some telegram channels where there are several tens of thousands of people and you realize that not all these thousands will be on your side. But, fortunately, there are friends and other teams who can also speak out on this matter. Someone can tell the coverdancers right on the set all the insults to their face. It all depends on the people.

Perhaps I have not specified everything yet, but this is what I had to experience firsthand.

Of course, this does not mean that covers are danced only so that people will look at the dancers somewhere in a public place. We also work very hard for different parties and battles in our native or other cities.

There are concerts at studios where numbers with different styles of dance are shown, as well as in cover dance. Often the organizers are the dancers themselves.

This gives a great experience of performing in public. Dancers can show their efforts not just to random people, but to like-minded people. There is a huge competition at events such as battles. Sometimes it is difficult even for the judges to decide what was better.

I would say that cover dance is even more difficult to some extent than choreographies staged in studios because people looking at you know what the original choreography looks like and what emotions the idols show. The task of the cover dancer is to convey the atmosphere of the original dance as much as possible.

Everyone has different goals of being in coverdance. Someone dances out of interest, someone wants to find friends, someone is just looking for himself. But there are also people who aspire to the very scene in Korea where they can show themselves to their idols. And it's really possible to come to this. The main thing is to work and work. And we need to work as a whole team.