By PRISCILLA OSAJE

A dance group known as ‘The Xtreme Movement Crew’, on Saturday, thrilled fans of Korean music with their unique electrifying dance steps to emerge winner of the 2025 K-pop Festival.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that K-pop festival is an event that celebrates Korean pop music and culture, bringing fans together to enjoy concerts, dance competition and other activities related to the genre.

The festival also often feature performances by popular K-pop artists, showcasing talented dancers and singers, and provide opportunities for fans to connect with each other.

The K-Pop Festival, organised by the Korea Cultural Center Nigeria (KCCN), featured 18 finalists with 10 singing teams and eight dancing teams, who battled in their various categories at the shimmering grand finale held in Abuja.

The Xtreme Movement crew, which comprised of three talented dancers, defeated six other contestants; Yard Kings, Zoned-IN DC, Xtreme Dance Crew among others to cart home a cash prize of N800,000 and a chance to compete in international final.

The dancing group, who performed with a Korean song titled ‘Ice On My Teeth’ by Ateez, won the heart of the judges by their splendid performance.

The dancing group also won the popularity prize after the audience votes and they were given the sum of N200,000

The ecstatic and energetic dancers excited the audience with their God-given talent and unique dance styles that made them to earned accolades from judges and the audience.

The ‘Xtreme Dance Crew’ another dancing group came second in the dance category and received N600,000. Third position was taken by Zoned-IN DC crew who received N400,000

In the singing category, Macwhitney Myles came top and was rewarded with N500,000 cash prize with a chance to compete internationally.

Goodness Ohwodiasa came second and received N300,000 and the third position was Onuh Blessing who received N200,000.

Speaking, Damina Loka, leader of the group that emerged winner, said words were not enough to express how he felt because it was not an easy job.

Loka said that the dancing group were excited and expressed gratitude to God for seeing them through because it was not an easy task and experience.

According to him, they were motivated by the original group; that is, the boys group that owned the song because of their special personalities.

“They have this special personalities, each of the boys have their different styles. We literally just tried to replicate what we saw from their previous performances.

“Then we infused it with our own Nigerian style. We have been rehearsing since February for this competition,” he said.

The leader appreciated KCCN for the great opportunity given to them to showcase their talents.

“Korean center are not only investing in talent, but promoting culture among Nigerians.

“We hope to bring the win back to Nigeria during the international competition. But after the international competition, we intend to start K-pop dance classes in Abuja.

“The community here in Africa needs to be exposed to the K-pop culture and be infused with the Nigerian style for such will go a long way,” he said.

Ms. MaWhitney Miyle, winner in the singing category, said she was able to win due to her efforts, adding that she had been preparing for the competition for over one year.

“I prepared for over one year for this great moment; though, I have learnt the song before now.

“I have been contesting for the past four years and I won the third position in 2024,” she said.

Mr. Praise Nelson, a Judge, said as a pioneer, he felt so excited to see K-pop grow in Nigeria , because they were the only team from Nigeria that won the grand prize in South Korea.

Nelson, who was a past winner of K-pop competition, said picking the best crew to represent Nigeria seem not to be that easy.

“To tell how tough it was, the winner won by a point. But my greatest excitement is seeing the growth of K-pop in Nigeria,” he said.

Mr. Jeon Ju Ho, Director of KCCN, in his opening speech, said K-pop festival is the celebration of the value that continue to arise globally, which stands as its core project in connecting cultures and inspiring millions.

According to him, the event focus on the celebration of culture, creativity, and friendship of global trend born in the heart of Korea

Ju Ho said such trend born in the heart of Korea has found the bright and special home here in Nigeria, a country rich in musical talent and biology use of culture.

“We know that Korean culture is truly appreciated in Nigeria. KCCN is proud of Nigerians and we will continue to strengthen the synergy.

“Hopefully, I know you will learn new Korean cultural programmes from this event in order to deepen future understanding,” he said.

He further said that the aim of the event was to promote Korean culture, as well as strengthen the cultural exchange between Nigeria and Korea.

“K-pop is really popular, so we are happy to present this K-pop festival in Abuja. We have done this in Lagos and we are here in Abuja.

“Abuja and Lagos are cultural hubs, the reason we focus on them.

“Nigerians are really good at what they do and we hope for the best Nigerians to win again at the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) k-pop festival.

“We decided to do it a bit earlier so that we can send the videos at the appropriate time. We have 35 Korean cultural centres around the world and hope that Nigerian contestants win in Korea,” he added.

NAN report that the festival also featured a raffle draw, guest performance, audience choice voting among others.(NAN)