Daebak Spartans club is more than just members coming to learn choreography for their showcase at Kellogg Auditorium. What brings its members together is the sense of belonging. Members are welcome to try new dances, attend social events or simply make friends with others who share an interest in K-Pop. For the members who stay, this club becomes a community that extends beyond the dance floor.
This is an MSU K-Pop club open to the whole campus. It was founded in 2018 by students who shared an interest in K-Pop, dancing and learning fun choreography, regardless of skill level. President of the club and fifth-year student Allie Tilt said that the club is meant to be a welcoming community where everyone can bond over something they enjoy.
“Our goal is, whether you want to dance or not, there's a place for you in our club,” Tilt said.
Tilt said that the club started out as a group of people filming K-pop dance covers, but has grown tremendously since it was founded. The showcase had to switch to a bigger auditorium, Kellogg, since the audience kept growing. Every semester, there are about 36 songs and roughly 60-65 performers. Members can sign up to perform up to five dances of their choosing.
“It’s pretty much a build-your-own-adventure kind of level of involvement,” Tilt said.
Even though dancing is a central part of this club, students don’t have to be experienced to join. They can learn the choreography at their own pace and choose to participate in the routines they are interested in. This allows inexperienced students the opportunity to learn and improve from each other. The club meets once a month to learn new choreography from YouTube with the goal of eventually being able to perform it with others.
Senior Kaity Silengo, the club's social media manager and choreographer of “Bloody Paradise” by ENHYPEN, said members become more comfortable with the choreography as they practice.
“(Learning) takes a bit, but eventually everyone is able to do it,” Silengo said. “It's a really good feeling, sitting and watching everyone do it. I was like, ‘Wow, I actually taught them how to do the dance.'”
That flexibility is what allows Daebak Spartans to bring together students with different levels of interest and experience. A student can come because they are already a huge K-Pop fan, or they can join simply because they are curious and want to try something new.
The club’s community also extends outside of dance practices. Members can attend social events where they can spend time together. One of these activities includes going to HTea Cafe, giving members an opportunity to hang out and get to know each other outside of the club. For junior Angie Sanchez-Aviola, a three-year member and committee head, those friendships have become one of the most important parts of being involved in Daebak Spartans.
