What It’s Like To Dance With K-Pop Idols, According To One Of Ailee’s Dancers
K-Pop idols always give their all to make their stages as incredible as possible. Often, groups and soloists will include dancers in their performances to make their stages even more exciting.
Mnet’s recent survival show, Street Woman Fighter, helped to encourage K-Pop fans to look beyond K-Pop idols and also appreciate the talented dancers performing alongside them.
Dancers who appeared on the show like Emma…
And Noze gained popularity and even fancams of their own for their incredible performances.
Recently, a K-Pop dancer, Kassie Yeung, took to TikTok to show the realities of dancing alongside a K-Pop idol, in this case recording the behind-the-scenes of dancing for soloist Ailee. She recorded her experience, which started with waking up early and arriving at the venue.
I woke up at 6 A.M, looked at the map [for the venue]. Arrived at Incheon where the venue was located and got my pass.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
Unlike K-Pop idols, who are guided by staff, she had to find her way to the dressing room, which was slightly more complicated than she expected.
Once I got my pass, I headed up to the dressing room which was really hard to navigate. And I got my snacks. Good thing they had signs.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
Kassie Yeung shared that they rehearsed three times to give the best possible performance.
I changed into my outfit for dry rehearsal. I think I did like three [rehearsals] that day.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
Before being fed by the venue.
Then we got lunch. This one was some spam and egg bokkeumbap (fried rice) type thing. It was pretty bomb.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
Also, unlike K-Pop idols who have their makeup professionally done, in Kassie Yeung’s case, the dancers were responsible for putting on their own makeup.
Then I did my makeup and took multiple selfies.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
She gave fans a look at the different behind-the-scenes areas in a performance venue.
This is where all the clothes are. And this is the outside of the dressing room. Our schedule.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
And explained that most of a dancer’s job on a performance day is simply waiting.
And I got some coffee, looked at the line outside, and I waited, and ate, and waited… I swear I wasn’t kidding when I said backup dancing is waiting a lot. I think I waited like seven hours this day to perform.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
She briefly shared what the pathway to the stage looks like.
And we got called up to perform first so I just record [us walking to stage] quickly.
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
And shared what the backstage area where they stretch and then monitor their performance looks like.
And this is backstage where we’re perfoming and stretching. And this is what we call monitoring [after they perform].
— @kassieyeung/TikTok
Although it definitely seems like a difficult job, dancers are essential for ensuring K-Pop stages come together.
You can watch the full TikTok here.
@kassieyeung Day in the life as a dancer for Ailee 💃🏻 #kpop #ailee #aileeedit #backupdancing #backupdancer #ditl #thatthatpsy
