“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.

“A majority of my friends I've made in this club and also my current roommates that I live in an apartment with I met through this club,” Sanchez-Aviola said.

College can be a new environment for students, especially when they are trying to meet people and find groups they feel comfortable in. Sanchez-Aviola mentioned that finding people who shared the same interests in K-Pop made it easier for her to express parts of herself that she sometimes felt judged for.

“I feel like K-Pop is something that people sometimes feel ashamed to be interested in,” Sanchez-Aviola said. “Finding people that I can freely express interest and share the dance and stuff with... it makes me feel very comfortable.”

The friendships are also part of what makes learning dances less intimidating. Instead of trying to learn a difficult routine alone, members can practice alongside people they know and encourage each other when they make mistakes. For Tilt, being able to dance with friends makes the experience more enjoyable.

“You realize, I'm not just doing this by myself in my bedroom anymore, there's people that enjoy watching this that are here to uplift me. I'm doing it with my friends, and we're all in the same boat,” Tilt said. “It's like, ‘Wow, we did a really hard thing together.’”

As the club prepares for its showcase on Dec. 6, members are working toward a shared goal. The showcase gives dancers a chance to perform the choreography they have practiced, but the preparation is also another opportunity for members to work together.

“We get to perform for like, I think, upwards of 300 or so people,” Sanchez-Aviola said. “Getting to show off just pursuing our interests in dancing and our hard work throughout the semester on the Kellogg stage is just really sweet.”

Daebak Spartans may bring students together through K-Pop, but the relationships built through the club are what keep the community going. Whether members are practicing choreography, preparing for a performance, getting food together or spending time with friends, the club gives students a place where they can feel like they can be themselves.

“I really hope that students can feel more comfortable in their own skin and can feel like they have a place to belong,” Tilt said.