Sophomores Cain Cowan and Daliya Mathew created the K-pop dance club after realizing their love for the music genre. The two girls first met up at the park after school to learn dances, but as time went on, they noticed the cons of practicing at the park, such as the hard concrete putting strains on their knees and the piles of leaves they had to clear up prior to dancing.
The students wanted a wide and clean space to practice dancing. Soon, they started asking people at school if they would be interested in joining a K-pop dance group. Their persistence paid off and soon they recruited seven people who routinely met at Cowan’s house and practice every Tuesday for about an hour.
“It [dance practice] was a team effort… there’s not one person teaching everybody,” Cowan said. “More along the lines of each of us pitching in with our different levels of dance experience.”
Cowan and Mathew succeeded in gathering a group of people for an off-campus club. However, other Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students wanted to join but were unable to because it was not an official school club. Cowan and Mathew decided that it was time to bring the club to school. After submitting their request and talking to the ICC board at school, their club was approved.
Although their club’s main focus will be about dancing and having fun, club leaders Cowan and Mathew plan on having short conversations at the start of each meeting about events occurring within the K-pop fan community.
“The club is meant for fun and for exercise as opposed to being used to educate about the culture K-pop comes from,” Cowan said.
The officers both hope that by the end of the school year they can have 15-20 consistent members. Cowan says they intend on promoting their new club by “going up to people during lunch or in the morning and asking them if they would be interested.”
In addition, Cowan and Mathew plan to post flyers around campus and have updates read on the morning announcements. With all of the hard work they have invested in the club, their goal is to perform in the pep rally in following school years. The K-pop dance club will meet every Tuesday in portable C5.
