NDEO鈥檚 Guest Blog Series features posts written by our members about their experiences in the fields of dance and dance education. We continue this series with a post by Nayeon (Kate) Kim, Student attending Seoul Foreign High School.聽 Guest posts reflect the experiences, opinions, and viewpoints of the author and are printed here with their permission. NDEO does not endorse any business, product, or service mentioned in guest blog posts. If you are interested in learning more about the guest blogger program or submitting an article for consideration, please click here.听听听听
A Student鈥檚 Perspective on What True Dance Education Teaches Students
Lately, I am approached with short clips of my friends trying a TikTok dance. Often, after dance practice, I鈥檒l walk into a classroom and find a group gathered around a phone, laughing as they attempt to learn the latest viral routine. Recently, one of my friends shared how she had mastered a trending TikTok dance in just ten minutes the night before. She was thrilled and exclaimed, half-joking and half-proud, that she must have "grown a lot as a dancer.
Moments like these genuinely make me happy鈥攊t鈥檚 wonderful to see dance becoming more accessible, more integrated into everyday life. But at the same time, I find myself pausing. A quiet sense of conflict stirs within me. On one hand, I celebrate the widening entry points into dance that opens the door for so many to experience the joy of movement. On the other hand, I wonder: are we losing something essential in the process? There seems to be an emerging divide between why I first fell in love with dance and how others are now beginning their own journeys.
Was I being too obsessed with the art form that鈥檚 shaped my life?
In that moment, I realized that three things essential risks being lost:
- The effort to understand dance as a human tradition
- The discipline to learn before replicating
- The language to collaborate through dance
That moment made me reflect more deeply on what dance education has given me 鈥� not just technique, but the tools to think, connect, and create like an artist. It鈥檚 this third point I want to explore in my blog post: how dance becomes a language we speak together, and how structural training and guidance helps us do so with clarity and intention.
Creativity as a Stepping Stone for Communication in Dance
Creativity isn鈥檛 something we鈥檙e taught 鈥� it鈥檚 something we all carry within us. But the role of a dance educator, I believe, is to nurture that inner creativity and teach us how to use it. Out of all the beautiful values dance education holds, this is what truly shapes the difference between someone who knows how to dance and someone who is a dancer.
As a high school student passionate about dance, I鈥檝e been fortunate to learn from mentors who have guided me far beyond technique. Yes, they鈥檝e given me stages to perform on and thoughtful feedback on my choreography. But most importantly, they taught me to create without fear: to build something out of nothing, and to trust that my ideas, no matter how rough at first, are worth exploring. The same direction of guidance was applied throughout choreography workshops, contemporary dance classes, and big-group performance directing that I got to take part in.
Today, anyone can learn a viral routine. There鈥檚 no shortage of 2-minute choreography videos, Tik Toks, or K-pop tutorials. But what we risk losing in that convenience is the deeper education, the one that teaches us not just to move, but to think like artists.
How Structural Training Empowers Collaboration
Throughout high school, I鈥檝e actively immersed myself in chances to grow not just as a dancer, but as a performer and collaborator. One of the most meaningful experiences I鈥檝e had is through the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Dance Festival, an annual six-day gathering where students from all over Asia come together to share workshops, create, and perform. I鈥檝e participated in three conferences over three years 鈥� in Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines and each one deepened my understanding of how powerful and necessary dance education is in today鈥檚 world.
At each festival, we take part in something called the Fusion Performance. The idea is simple: put ten to twelve students from different countries, cultures, and dance backgrounds into one group, give them a random song, and ask them to choreograph a piece together. There鈥檚 no lead choreographer, no pre-planned structure, just a blank slate and a mutual trust that something meaningful will emerge.
At first, it was overwhelming. I remember standing in the practice room in the Brent International School in the Philippines, music playing, and no one knowing where to start. We all came from different dance backgrounds 鈥� classical ballet, street, contemporary, traditional. But slowly, someone added a step. Another dancer built on it. Soon, we were exchanging ideas, layering styles, and putting together our stories. Slowly, we were speaking a common language we had each been taught through our respective training.
I am confident that a shared foundation of structural training is what allowed us to move from confusion towards cohesion. Our structured training gave us the vocabulary to collaborate. It gave us the mindset to listen, adapt, and respect other鈥檚 ideas. And that鈥檚 why I believe structural training matters more than ever.
The Emerging Importance of Structured Training
Some say it鈥檚 outdated, but I鈥檝e come to learn the opposite. Structured dance education isn鈥檛 about tradition for tradition鈥檚 sake 鈥� it鈥檚 about teaching us how to think. How to see ourselves not just as performers, but as creators and artists. In a fast-paced, trend-driven world, I strongly believe that we need that grounding more than ever.
To me, a true dance educator doesn鈥檛 just teach movement. They help young dancers discover who they are 鈥� or at least spark a hunger to find out. They guide us to see ourselves not as too small or too big, but as part of something bigger: connected to others, to the world, and to the artform of dance itself. And as a student dancer, I am so grateful for the everlasting lessons that dance education gives to me that I can apply in my life broadly.
Kate Kim is a junior at Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, South Korea. Born in South Korea, she spent over a decade living in China and Malaysia due to her father鈥檚 work, experiences that shaped her global perspective on culture and the arts. Kate has been dancing for ten years and currently serves as the captain of her high school鈥檚 dance team. She led a fundraiser dance showcase, collaborating with dancers from international schools across Korea to support the Korea Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer (KACLC). She is the founder of ARTifact, a youth-led nonprofit organization that promotes the enjoyment of performing arts, with active chapters in nine countries and a growing network of young artists sharing their talents worldwide. For the past eight months, Kate has also been interning at the Korean Dance Therapy Association, assisting with session preparations at the center and supporting dance therapy programs for patients in hospital settings. This upcoming summer, she will continue deepening her connection to the arts by interning at the Korean Gugak Center, where she will study Korean traditional folk arts and their history.
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Photo Credits: Headshot by Pret A Portrait, all other images by Jason Lee