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  How to join an ED live class

  Now it’s time to check your class schedule and start learning. It’s easier than you think, we promise.     Schedule the live classes you’d like to take by clicking the "Count Me In" button on the Schedule page on edkpop.com. The 'count me in' button will be automatically changed to the pink   'Join Class' button if the class is live now. If not, the button will be like  “YOU’RE IN”. Chosen classes will be displayed on your ED home screen as well. Schedule your live class schedule and join with just one click!    If you want to check our notices & schedule for upcoming classes on social media, follow @edkpoplive on Instagram! Everything about our live classes will be uploaded. Be aware that the time written on the Instagram schedule is based on the Los Angeles (PST/PDT) time zone.? Set a reminder for yourself so you don’t miss out on your classes!   That’s it! You don’t need to sign up beforehand. Just join the class and have fun!   You can also click on the dropdown menu on the left hand corner and choose your time zone to automatically change to your preference! You don’t have to double-check world clocks anymore.   When you take a live class, you might have the opportunity to get immediate feedback, talk to the other students on chat, and see the moves on more bodies other than your own.   See how other trainee Mia enjoys our live classes—she's an ED trainee from England who has been with us since the very beginning.  After classes, it’s very important to know that recording yourself and monitoring will help you improve in your dance moves.   If you are able to record yourselves and upload it on Instagram, don’t forget to tag @edkpop.official and @edkpoplive!  We feature outstanding trainees who uploaded their videos every week. (We’ll ask your permission if uploading your video would be okay!)   Check out a few of our recommendations below and see what a typical ED LIVE Class looks like:   Ready to start your KPOP journey?  Click to count yourself in for a class on edkpop.com  
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  What kind of classes are on ED?

  ED classes are divided into 7 categories. See below to check what they are and choose one to begin with!  KPOP Essentials Did you know that great dancers have an arsenal of basic moves they use on repeat? This is where it all begins! KPOP Essentials classes are an easy, fun and essential guide to dancing and the classes focus on the breakdown of foundational dance moves such as steps, turns, body isolations and waves.  Any Level A trainees out there? These classes are designed for those who just started dancing or are looking to work on the basic dance skills.     Start by going through a fun dance routine for the basic moves, designed by world’s best KPOP choreographers: DX, Youjin, Minjung, Sooyeon and Patt! If you just started dancing or want to take it a bit slower with our choreography classes, ‘KPOP Essentials’ classes will help you learn more detailed basic techniques. Style Dance There are many different genres and forms of dance. Our instructors specialize in different genres and forms of dance and teach different styles of choreography. Recognize the color of the choreo through their ED live classes!     What is Popping? Have you ever heard of the dancing technique Popping? Even if you're not familiar with this style of dance by name, you have probably seen it in the moves of iconic dancers like Michael Jackson, and even mixed into the choreographies of more contemporary dancers. KYO, one of our instructors, is the dancer who pioneered the field of popping in Korea. Watch a Q&A interview with him below (링크 또는 유튜브 넣기), where he talks about how he started popping, what inspires him, and other aspects of dance.   Popping instructor KYO    @dancerkyo A world-class popper, KYO (a.k.a Crazy Kyo) has danced, choreographed, and trained KPOP stars for more than two decades. Learn to pop every muscle and joint you have with KYO's easy lesson. - Popping World Champion - BIGBANG, 2NE1, SEVENTEEN Dance Trainer - BoA, Jay Park, Red Velvet Choreographer     What is Tutting? Tutting is a dance style that utilizes the body’s ability to create clean lines and sharp angles with your arms and hands and keep your body form as you move. Originally inspired by the art of Ancient Egypt, Tutting is not that far off from walking like an Egyptian, but on a different tune.  Rather than a dance style, tutting started gaining attention as a trend when it was first introduced as a type of architecture and was featured in magazines. Now it’s one of the most popularly seen dance styles among hip-hop and popping dancers today. Tutting instructor Spella    @_spella Spella is the most famous hands choreo expert in KPOP. As the choreographer and personal trainer of many girl groups like Red Velvet and IZ*ONE, she will introduce the diverse genres of Waacking, Voguing, and Tutting. - Red Velvet Irene & Seulgi Choreographer - Kwon Eunbi Dance Trainer   What is Waacking? Waacking is an expressive form of dance with splendid arm movements, which is created in the LGBT clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era. The dance has also been known as “Punking”, with some of the originators claiming that the name was a way of taking ownership of a negative term (as the term “punk” was a derogatory term for LGBT men in the 70s) and giving it a positive connotation. The dance includes a lot of Arm Twirls, Chest Extentions, and Poses. Click here to take YE-G's basic Waacking class in order to get the detailed instruction and drills!   Waacking instructor YE-G   @_yegkim_ YE-G has won many Waacking contests and is currently working as a dance professor in a college and a judge for different events. She also has directed Waacking choreographies in various fields like dramas and musicals. YE-G will be teaching her know-how to Waacking dance on ED. - Director of choreography of global contents by Korea Tourism Organization - Main Dancer of Waacking concert hosted by Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Korea - Judge of multiple Waacking concerts and competitions Choreography From original choreographies to the ones that were specially crafted for ED trainees, you can learn various choreographies made by ED instructors and dance like a KPOP idol. Recommended for above Level C trainees. There are so many different kinds of choreographies, so check out edkpop.com and find what you like! Beginner Choreo Beginner choreos are beginner-friendly rearranged choreography by our instructors. With easy-to-understand instructions, you can be able to learn choreography quickly and exactly! You will soon be able to dance like a KPOP star if you continue with our step-by-step classes! Recommended for Level A, B trainees. Vocal Jay Kim, the lead singer of SM Entertainment's popular rock band TraxX is your new vocal trainer! With Jay's expertise as a KPOP artist and trainer, experience the professional vocal training from the basics. Enjoy KPOP songs to the fullest with Jay and upgrade your singing skills in no time! Fitness ED Fitness instructor Soomin Yi is a star Pilates instructor who teaches many KPOP idols how to stay healthy and in shape. Just like she taught Yeri from Red Velvet, she will also help you start Pilates for the first time with her calm and gentle teaching. Stretch out and strengthen your core muscles with Soomin’s “Pilates for Dancers” classes so you can move your body better! Styling As a professional dancer and model, Minjung will be sharing her tips on styling for stage performance, giving the audience that extra wow factor when performers appear onstage. Wanna experience what ED is like? Whatever you want to accomplish, make it happen with ED! Start as a beginner and progress all the way up to the level of a KPOP idol here.  
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  How to practice at home

  Always remember that you will get better day by day—practice is a good way to learn at your own pace.  Here's how to practice dance and challenge yourself:    1. Warm up before dancing. To warm up, why not try a little workout routine from our fitness and posture classes? ED offers Pilates classes designed for dancers by our instructor Soomin, and here is a little clip from one of her classes. We also have a bunch of these on-demand practice classes on our website, so take a look! 2.  Take classes on your own schedule. Our trainees have different time zones and sometimes you miss our classes due to various reasons. Busy bees 🐝 who want to spare their time for dance can now take classes as well. If you’re a brand new trainee with slow pickup, practice classes will help you have control over the pace of your class. Beginners, trainees with slow pickup, Perfectionists... No matter what you're like. In our practice room, you can repeat parts of the class and lock every move down. 3. See what your practice room look like.  Click each button to head straight to specific parts! There are various functions that can help you enjoy the class.    Info: Check the basic information about the class here.  Numbers: See the number of lessons for each class and how long it takes to finish one class.  Options: Adjust the options for mirror mode, camera, and recording.  Lesson List: You can choose a lesson you want to learn. 4. Lock each move down by repeating challenging parts and adjusting the options. While taking class, don't forget to repeat challenging parts to lock each move down and adjust the options for mirror mode, camera, and recording. Always remember that our dance classes are in mirror mode so you can follow along easily! 5. Record yourself and review the video. After taking class, record yourself and review the video later on your own time. Click ‘Recording'  to record a video. It will have some spare seconds in the beginning to help you get ready for the recording, so don’t worry!  If you are able to record yourselves and upload it on Instagram, don’t forget to tag #EDKPOP, @edkpop.official and @edkpoplive! We feature outstanding trainees who uploaded their videos every month. (We’ll ask your permission if uploading your video would be okay!) ED is cheering for all our hardworking trainees! Don't forget that practicing consistently is key for everything, so keep up the hard work!! Fighting :-) 
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  Q&A with LEE GIKWANG of HIGHLIGHT

  On July 25th, 2021, ED hosted an Artist Class with LEE GIKWANG of HIGHLIGHT! He taught the choreography for his new song "NOT THE END" and answered a few questions that his students submitted at the end of the class. For this predebut, we wanted to share the Q&A with you all. LEE GIKWANG said many inspirational things that we hope you'll enjoy and find helpful!  Question: What motivated you the most to work hard in order to achieve your dream? Answer (LEE GIKWANG): Serena from the US sent me this question. What motivated me to work hard to achieve my dream? I think it would be you all, my fans who are here with me right now. It's the weekend, a day off, and time is not something you can hold onto. All of you who took this precious time to come see me and take this class with me are my biggest motivation. Even though it's virtual, collaborating with you all like this, being able to see your smiling faces, and seeing you having fun is making me genuinely so happy. Are you all happy? Good—I see you watching me while eating or looking at your phones. I hope you're all having a good time.  Q: People say that you're good at power control. What do you think about it? A: Sehee from Korea asked me this next question. Hmm, I don't think that I'm really fantastic, but I guess I just practice a lot. The more I do, a song that felt fast feels slower to me and this gives me some breathing room, which then helps my body learn where to emphasize and where to let go a bit, where I should stop or give a little fast and slow, shall I say? So whatever the choreography might be, I do my best to practice really hard. This helps you dance with your own unique style with great, natural strength control without even realizing it. With things you do with your body, the more you do that thing with your body, the better you inevitably become. I hope that was a good answer.  Q: When you're having a rough time, what is one thing that you look at to remind yourself that what you're doing now is definitely worth it? A: Miwmiw from Thailand asked this question. This, too, I'm not just saying empty words—interacting with you all and seeing your smiling faces, and when you feel our music and dance and receive it so happily, and put that down in writing and that feeling gets across to me. That's when I feel so happy. That's when I feel alive, and think that becoming a singer was such a good decision. So I hope that the pandemic will end soon and I can give you my energy in person, not virtually, and receive your energy as well at a performance—not just me, but the other members want this as well, and I imagine all other singers probably dream of this. You are my treasure!  Here's a highlight video of the artist class and hope you enjoyed this Q&A session!  With Love, ED Team
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  How to dance better in heels

  One of the hallmarks of KPOP performances is the flawless choreographies danced in heels. KPOP idols make it look so effortless while it is difficult for many people to even walk in heels. How do they do it?  Though the trend in KPOP has moved away from dancing in heels as many idols now perform in platform boots, sneakers, or other relatively more comfortable shoes, today we brought you some tips on how you can dance in heels without too much pain and look great doing it.  Hopefully you already know that you should warm up and stretch before dancing to prepare your muscles and prevent injuries—this routine should include your feet and calves. When you wear heels, you put a lot of pressure and weight on the muscles in your feet and calves, so it is important to warm up those areas before dancing. Here are a few stretches you can do: 1. Grab a towel or an elastic band and put it under the arch of your foot. Hold the ends and gently pull it towards you. You should feel your calf muscles stretching. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat a few times on each foot.  2. Pick up a small object with your toes. We used a bottle cap here, but you can also use a marble or a pebble if you have one. This flexes your toes and the balls of your feet, which are areas that support a lot of weight when you're wearing heels. Practice picking it up and putting it down.  3. Bring your heel up! You can stand against a chair and support yourself with your hands and arms for this one. Slowly raise yourself up on your tiptoes like in the picture, then lower back down. Repeat a few times.  4. Roll your arch. For this stretch, you will need a round object to roll your arch against. We used a bottle, but you can also use a foot foam roller if you have one, a tennis ball, or a golf ball. Simply press your foot against the round object and roll it on a flat surface for a minute or two on each foot.  In addition to these stretches, the type of shoes you choose is important. It's best if you can find a pair of shoes with some ankle support, especially if the choreography you will be doing is more powerful and upbeat. If you choose to wear pumps that are more open in the front, you can do what many female KPOP idols do and simply tape the shoes to your feet for added stability. You should also make sure that your shoes aren't too slippery so that you don't fall and hurt your ankles. If you aren't used to walking or dancing in heels, choosing heels that are too high can be dangerous, so you should keep that in mind as well. Finally, pay attention to your posture! When you put on heels, you will be inclined to lean your weight forward, which creates an unstable pose and puts more pressure on the balls and toes of your feet. Instead, you need to engage your core and pull your center of gravity up your torso to relieve your knees and feet of some of your body weight. Roll your shoulders back, straighten your legs, and lead your steps with your hips. Did we mention that you should keep your core engaged? For reference, watch this performance of BABE by HyunA, paying attention to the posture of HyunA and the dancers, especially when they are taking steps forward. They don't lean their weight forward and lead their steps with their hips, which makes them look fierce and confident in their sky-high heels. Your core needs to be constantly engaged to achieve this! We hope that this was helpful if you want to learn to dance better in heels. Just make sure that you're stretching properly and not putting too much stress on your feet to ensure that your feet and legs stay healthy! Always remember that safety is the most important thing and be careful when you are dancing in high heels.  With love, ED Team