How capital of K-pop catapulted Queensland dancers to stardom

Kaea Pearce danced with Jennifer Lopez and co-starred Justin Bieber at the 2020 Super Bowl. I am sad Music video viewed more than 3.9 billion times on YouTube.

But ask the New Zealand-born, Gold Coast-based artist about the biggest experience of his career so far and he’ll tell you it was competing on a dance-battle reality show in South Korea.

“I think this is the new Los Angeles,” Pearce says of South Korea.

Last year, he was approached to lead the squad representing Australia on the show. The World of the Street Female FighterA dance competition featuring all-female teams from the United States, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.

Pearce had just a week to assemble Team AG, a group of dancers who would rise to stardom among South Korean fans.

His team finished second, losing only to Japan’s Osaka Ojo Gang.

For Pearce, this was the best job he had ever done.

“We managed to become stars and show the world that we are artists, not just backup dancers,” she said.

Brisbane dancer and choreographer Danica McKenzie, also in AG Squad, was equally blown away after her first experience with K-pop.

He said South Korean audiences treated AG Squad like celebrities when they went on tour after the show aired.

“This is otherworldly,” he said.

“Generally [dancers] Going to a concert with the support of an artist. Nobody is there for you. As a dancer in Korea, it was crazy to know that you were an artist. You are an idol to them.”

Dominique Falla, associate professor at Griffith University and author K-Pop Content StrategyHe said Seoul has become one of the world’s most important centers for commercial choreography.

And he agreed that South Korea’s attitude towards dancers is very different from Australia’s.

“[In Australia] “You’re a backup dancer, a body in a music video, and your name is rarely mentioned anywhere,” she said.

“The path from talented dancer to established artist is very short.”

However, in South Korea, the pop industry places choreography at the center of musical performance. Dancers are “presented as artists and competitors in their own right.”

“The Korean entertainment industry invests in dancers in a way that the West does not,” Falla said.

But programs like The World of the Street Female Fighter Falla, who brought fame to the contestants, warned that the business is sometimes unstable.

“Dancers and choreographers may still experience insecure freelancing, demanding schedules, limited bargaining power, and difficulties obtaining appropriate credit or ownership of choreography,” Falla said.

McKenzie is a champion of Brisbane’s dance scene and teaches at Mad Dance House in the Brisbane CBD and The Home Base in Darra.

But he said he could understand why artists often flock to Sydney and Melbourne (or further afield) to further their careers.

“There are very few opportunities for performers in Brisbane, which I think is why so many dancers leave Brisbane,” McKenzie said.

“It keeps the cycle going.”

McKenzie said local artists have a lot of talent to offer the industry.

“Maybe we spent more time doing our job because we knew we weren’t being seen — we spent more time behind the scenes,” he said.

He hopes to move to the US by the end of the year and find work in Los Angeles and New York.

Like many Brisbane dancers who leave to pursue other opportunities, she said she would return to share what she had learned with the local community.

“I’m a total homebody. It’s going to be a back and forth situation,” he said.

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