The Korean Cultural Centre in Nigeria (KCCN) on Friday graduated 44 dancers from its K-POP Dance Academy in Abuja.

The KCCN Director, Mr Kim Changki said he was happy that Nigerian youths are takingpart in the K-POP Dance Academy and doing so well.

“Here in the Centre, we have K-POP Dance Class annually. Last two weeks, we had a K-POP Dance Competition in Lagos and I am very happy about it. Nigerians are talented.

“The Centre is about K-POP, K-Food, K-Beauty, etc which has a touch of Korean culture that Nigerians can benefit from.

“From my observation, Nigerian youths are good dancers, but they have to do more exercise to be flexible. This makes dance easy. In Korea, dancers do a lot of exercise.

“We graduate about 44 students this year. And every year, we have K-POP Dance Class in the Academy and especially this year we will have K-POP Vocal Academy for the first time in Nigeria,” Changki said.

Similarly, a professional choreographer from South Korea, Jay Kim said Nigerian youths are talented and have ability and energy, adding that they need to learn details of K-POP Dance.

“It is about details. Nigerian youths are cooperative and care for one another. They are good and I appreciate and enjoy working with them.

“My advise to them is that they should try to be creative by creating their own styles and not strictly copying the styles of others,” Kim said.

One of the graduates, Jethro Luka Damina from Kaduna state said he was excited about the dance classes.

“We have been coming for classes for four weeks for practice. We learned a lot of dance movements and it feels so amazing to be here at the graduation ceremony.

“I feel happy. What is next for me now is that I am planning of starting a K-POP Dance Group here in Nigeria. I will try to push it to the next level.

“Nigerian youths and dancers should not relent. They should keep pushing. Try to do other styles of genre and dance to explore and belong to a dance community.

“If governments can support dancers in Nigeria, it will go a long way to help get youths off the streets,” Damina said.

Another K-POP Dance Academy graduate, Miss Success Nwaeze said she never felt intimidated when dancing with the opposite sex, adding that she is bold and would always want to be the best.

She explained that the academy was good, but that it was a bit challenging.

“We were working with people from different background including non-dancers. So as a team, we had to cooperate to be on same page.

“The Jay Kim is an amazing man. He has a lot of stuff and I wish I can keep learning from him for the next two months, because he has so much to give out.

“He is a versatile dance coach. The way he shared us into groups made us to know ourselves and communicate better.

“I will use the knowledge and apply it to my day today life; in my dance and fitness classes, and it will help me a lot.

“For the female dancers, keep doing what you are doing; go for your dream, don’t settle for less and be the best you can be,” Nwaeze advised.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria