The Xtreme Movement dance group and MacWhitney Myles have emerged winners of the 2025 K-Pop Dance and Singing Festival Contest, organized by the Korea Culture Center Nigeria (KCCN).
Both won N800,000 and N500,000 cash prize respectively, and an opportunity to compete at the annual Global KBS K-Pop World Dance and Singing Contest in Korea later this year.
The Xtreme Movement beat seven other dance groups including Xtreme Dance Crew, Doptimist, Yard Kings, Xquisite Dance Crew, Zoned-In DC, and Volt 6 with their huge personalities, charm and effortless dance steps.
Competing dance groups were judged based on their choreography composition and uniformity, stage presence and expression in context to the K-Pop group’s song they’re inspired by.
Starting from their intro to Ateez’s ‘Ice On My Teeth’ – The Xtreme Movement created their own catchy intro to the song, infusing new dance steps, and swag that enhanced the original song’s choreography. It was their big personality, fun and flirty mannerisms and the injection/expression of their natural African rhythm that made their performance effortless compared to the Second place winners, Xtreme Dance Crew, whose well-choreographed act with zero wow moments paled in comparison. Sames as Zoned-In DC whose impressive dance moves, but chaotic choreography came in third place.
Nonetheless, Xtreme Dance Crew and Zoned-In DC beat out four other dance crews to win N600,000 and N300,000 cash prizes, with the former also qualifying to compete in the global K-Pop Contest this year.
The Xtreme Movement went on to win the Audience Popularity Voting Prize which comes with a N200,000, cash prize, rounding their entire financial winnings to N1m.
Damina Jethro Luka, Stephen Dominion OluwaJoba and Michael Kings Otams who make-up the Xtreme Movement, expressed gratitude that the four months of practice and preparation paid off. They were inspired by the Korean Boy Band group ATEEZ, from whom they modeled their personalities.
“Each of them (ATEEZ) had different personalities and styles that we tried to replicate after watching their previous performances, whilst infusing it with our own unique Nigerian style,” said the group’s leader, Luka.
The group is also determined to bring home the global prize which has eluded Nigeria since its first and last win in 2015 by Pacific Starz.
A veteran in the K-Pop Singing Contest, MacWhitney Myles has featured in the contest since 2022, placing third in 2023. However, her determination, experience and initiative that catapulted her to first place this year.
In addition to her flawless sopranic performance of Korean artiste, Ailee’s ‘Yeoreobun’, Myles initiative to translate the second verse of the song to English, in a conversational style, rendered her performative not only interactive but engaging with the audience. Not to mention that the song rendered (without hitches or pitchiness) in her clear Soprano vocal, set her higher above the eight other competitors.
Ohwodiasa Goodness secured the second place and a cash prize of N300,000 with his performance of Salt N’Paper’s ‘I Swear’, a smart choice that fit his vocal range, making it easier for him sing a note or two higher without sounding pitchy.
Meantime, Onuh Blessing made third place (and N200,000) with her impressive performance of Lee Seung Chul’s ‘Western Sky’. But for a tiny wavering in her vocal, mid-song, Onuh’s stage presence, enunciation (lyrics) and expression (criteria of the competition), were on point.
Speaking with the press, Praise Nelson, former Pacific Starz member and winner of the KBS K-Pop World Competition ten years ago, declared the competition ‘a tough one’ as the winners won by a single mark.
Rather than diminishing, the competition, he said, has gotten tougher, what with sophisticated technology etc.
“You can’t compare ten years ago with to now. It’s good to see K-Pop growing in Nigeria. We were one of the pioneers of the contest and still the only team in Nigeria to win the global contest. The standard hasn’t dropped rather it is getting better.”
Emphasizing the objective of the contest which is to promote K-Pop and cultural exchange between Korea and Nigeria, the newly arrived KCCN Director, Jeon Ju Ho, is optimistic that Nigeria would win the global contest again this year, noting, “we have held the contest earlier this year so that we will have enough time to prepare and send in our submissions early,” concluded the director.
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