Bringing Sweden and Korea closer through K-pop

Mellerstedt, a writer and journalist, and Stillman, a writer and visual artist, originally started looking at internet fan communities together as a fun break from their everyday jobs. To their surprise, one of the most vibrant and active of those communities revolved around K-pop, with fans as far-flung as South America and the Middle East, and a strong presence in their home country of Sweden. The two women also found themselves attracted to the bright melodies and unique dances, sparking what would eventually become their multidisciplinary project, Dancing On Our Own.

As a way of engaging with the international K-pop fan community, they came up with a project that sought to unite K-pop and its pleasures with a uniquely Swedish context. On the Dancing On Our Own YouTube page, fans are asked to upload clips of themselves doing a K-pop dance of their choice. The only rules are that uploaded videos have to feature someone dancing on their own, and the video must be shot in Sweden. So far, they've found fans and followers from around the world, and feature videos ranging from a woman dancing to the Wonder Girl's "Nobody" to a subway station rendition of 2NE1's "Go Away".

Although the videos are all produced in Sweden, they've proven a hit among Koreans as well. Not only are a majority of the visitors to their webpage Koreans checking in on how Korean culture is received overseas, the dance videos have been uploaded and reposted on Korean blogs and websites.

(below: Stills from Dancing On Our Own videos, courtesy Dancing On Our Own)

The YouTube channel is more than just a fun place for people in Sweden to upload a video of themselves doing a fun K-pop dance, though. It's the basis of an art project that uses K-pop as a medium to study how individuals interpret and perform movement. Mellerstedt and Stillman have a gallery show where the videos of the dancers are projected without sound so that viewers will concentrate on how different bodies and different people change how the dances look, putting the focus on the pure movement of the dancers.

There's also a small booth at each show filled with information on K-pop where viewers can listen to the original music, watch the original dance videos and learn more about Korean popular culture. The contrast between the fan videos and the originals adds another layer, blurring the lines between the original Korean music and dances and the works of their far-flung fans.

Although the art project has had several showings in Sweden, Mellerstedt and Stillman recently held their first Korean showing on June 24 at RUF XXX in the Yongsan district in Seoul. The two are in Korea as part of a three month trip to learn more about K-pop in its home territory.

"We started all of this last summer", said Mellerstedt, "writing our blog and writing academically, but we found that we really needed to be here".

(right: Fans waiting for the 2011 Dream Concert on June 10, photo courtesy Dancing On Our Own)

In addition to the Dancing On Our Own project, the two are involved in publishing academic works and blogging, which has introduced them to a huge number of Swedish fans of K-pop and Korean culture. The fans range from teenagers to middle-aged people, and are interested in a diverse group of bands and cultural products, according to Mellerstedt and Stillman. "Lots of them get into it from J-pop and manga", says Stillman, "and then they get into K-pop and dramas".

The two are scheduled to return to Sweden next week, but will continue both blogging and publishing academic work related to Korean idol culture both in Korea and internationally. For more information on the Dancing On Our Own project, please visit www.dancingonourown.wordpress.com and www.youtube.com/DancingOnOurOwn.

by Jennifer Flinn
Korea.net Staff Writer and Editor