ILY is a Korean Pop (K-Pop) dance group based in Halifax, exploring different cultural identities and ideas of femininity and masculinity through music.
The group originally met in House of Eights, a dance studio located in the heart of downtown Halifax. ILY members consist of Kim Cooke, Shaomin Chen, Shelby Kennedy, Sicily Zhou and Ebony Abe. “We initially were strangers and grew to become very close friends,” said Abe, who explained that the group began doing dance covers for fun.
During the pandemic, they would film themselves dancing from home and then join those videos together. ILY formally began performing once COVID-19 restrictions were loosened and all members were in Halifax.
“I feel like we are very collaborative and open to everyone’s ideas. We love to share our individual knowledge just to make the team’s morale stronger,” said Abe.
Each member of ILY brings something different to the table, with members having Asian, Indigenous and Haligonian heritages. While Abe focuses more on visuals and formations, Chen focuses on timing and small details of a performance. “Sometimes we are figuring out our piece and of course there is clashing of ideas, but overall, over time, we were able to understand where our views were coming from,” said Abe.
Through teamwork, ILY is working to make performances stronger. One of the group’s biggest challenges has been finding consistent times when everyone is available with workplace and student-life commitments making it difficult to find recurring dates for practicing. “We are all busy as individuals.”
Abe said that in the music scene, an all-female group will often be expected to perform very girly and feminine music. “But I feel like that allows us to show what else we are capable of.”
After their debut in House of Eights, Abe said ILY could have followed the road of having a very feminine presence on stage. However, the group wanted to be more versatile and tackle masculine songs. “We wanted to have that shift.”
ILY dance performances alternate between masculine and feminine dance moves. “People who watch our group don’t know what’s coming next and we have them on their toes,” said Abe.
Doing different dance moves has allowed ILY to expand their abilities as dancers as the masculine moves are not always easy to do. “It can challenge us, but it’s part of the process.”
Abe said that her favourite part about performing with ILY is seeing the end result. “Trust the process is one of the things I always think about.” One of the things she’s learned has been that with the right amount of work, the results will always be what one hopes to accomplish.
Besides seeing the final results, hearing honest feedback has made a big difference for Abe. “Even if I was to do my part as an individual, I still need to hear feedback so I am able to see how I can improve.”
