It’s no secret that the Korean Wave has spread around the world.

And the popularity of K-pop dance has grown with the music. So much so, that many fans are coming to Korea specifically to study it. More than that, through K-pop dance, Korean hip-hop is also growing.

Yang Sun-kyu, CEO of Def Dance Skool and Def Music Academy in Gangnam, said many of the foreign students in his K-pop dance classes, which run seven days a week, joined because they were fans of K-pop. And many contacted the school before they even arrived in Korea.

He started his K-pop dance program 10 years ago, due to the popularity among Koreans, but said about two years ago he started seeing an influx of foreign students.

“K-pop dance is seen more as a travel item. You can learn K-pop dance here,” he said. “The studio has become like a tourism site. An interactive tourism site.”

He said his students have come from countries such as China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Italy and more.

Though Yang initially wanted to focus on urban hip-hop with his studio, he realized there was more demand for K-pop dance and that many back then were intimidated by hip-hop dance.

“I was worried it was too professional and the open public was too nervous,” he said. “I had my doubts and I didn’t know what kind of response I would get, but people came because back then there weren’t too many dance studios.”

But now, with the level of K-pop dance reaching that of its U.S. equivalent, and also infusing more of the hip-hop style, he said students are no longer intimidated and many end up branching out to other genres.

“Originally I wanted to teach hip-hop, but I had to teach K-pop. But because it has evolved to the same level, it’s shifting a little. It’s a benefit because now I can teach more of what I originally wanted to teach,” he said.

Yang said many of his foreign students come into the K-pop class as K-pop fans, but then become fans of other styles of dancing. So much so, he offers hip-hop, popping and professional dancing as well as K-pop.

Tae-youn Hwang, owner of Negative Motion Dance Studio, said he has seen the same trend happening with his students, of whom about one-third to half are from overseas.

“The students are constantly moving around. Some want to learn the girl sexy dance style. And some will do one month of K-pop class, then a month of popping. They move around,” he said.

Hwang, who opened his studio near Wangsimni Station in November 2010, said he also started to see more expats signing up about a year or so ago. At first he had only one or two per class. He said that advertising on the internet in Korean and English helped bring in more.

He said one of the ideas behind starting his own studio was so Koreans and foreigners could study dance together, in English, and become friends.

“That was my starting point ― the program is always changing, too,” he said.

Now, Hwang offers K-pop group classes twice a week, on top of hip-hop, popping, house and freestyle.

Hwang said gets a lot of tourists as well, who call before arriving in Korea, though he has a good number of regular students who are English teachers from Canada and the U.S. He has had students come through from Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia, Thailand, China, Spain and Germany.

He has also done workshops abroad in Hong Kong and Singapore.

And not all his foreign students study dance as a hobby. He said a few of his students are professional dancers who want to learn Korean hip-hop and come here as English teachers so they can study long-term.

Jenny, 27, from Indonesia and Aya, 27, from Japan, students at Seoul National University, both study K-pop dance at Def Dance and said they started because of their interest in K-pop.

“K-pop is blooming. The dances are really interesting to learn,” Jenny said, adding that one of her favorites was “Touch” by Miss A.

The two said while most of the time it was not too hard to study with a teacher that speaks only Korean, it’s not always easy.

“Sometimes there is some miscommunication. We understand just a little bit of Korean,” Jenny said. “But so far there are no big problems. They show us the moves and we can follow their body language.”

For Darcie Draudt, an American studying at Yonsei University, she said being able to speak Korean definitely made studying dance in Korea a lot easier. Draudt studied and performed contemporary, hip-hop, girls’ hip-hop and urban hip-hop here in Korea, though at the moment she is not actively involved in dance in order to focus on her studies.

“Having a laid back attitude was what made it easier too,” she said. “If I had been a bit more stubborn it would have been harder.”

Draudt said that Koreans were really interested in foreign performers, especially those who want to perform with them. Last year she performed with a professional Korean group. She was the only expat.

According to Draudt, two of her greatest achievements were performing in the 2009 Seoul Fringe Festival with a mixed group of expats and Koreans, and being on the team that won the top prize at a government-sponsored competition last year, something she is proud of.

“In the dance world, there are not a lot of foreigners. A lot of foreigners are interested, though,” she said. “Dance is a great way for Koreans and foreigners to bridge cultures.”

Draudt emphasized that collaborative effort between Koreans and expats was a really important way to have a dialogue when it comes to dance, and that it’s a very interesting way for the two to interact.

“I’ve been able to connect with people in a very special way that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise,” she said. “Dance is communicating without words. Especially when you’re performing with people who are really passionate about dance, you meet people that are very creative.”

Those interested in K-pop or any dance class, can contact Def Dance via defdance@hanmail.com or www.defdance.com, or Negative Motion Dance Studio through 010-8747-7748 or www.motiondance.net.

By Emma Kalka (ekalka@heraldcorp.com)