United through passion. These will be the words to describe those present for the K-Generation (K-Gen) Taylors University, Lakeside Campus first Hallyu (Korean Wave) festival held in Taylors lecture theatre on 30th October 2010. With the 200 seater lecture theatre filled to the brim by 10.30am, the spirit of hallyu can truly be felt buzzing in the air. This festival aims at providing a platform for Korean entertainment (better known as K-pop) and Korean culture fans to gather and share their interest together. The K-Gen team certainly had their hands full with an overwhelming response, with over 600 facebook users who were interested in the event when the targeted audience was just 200, due to the venue constraint.
Nevertheless, the K-Gen team did their best in putting together a spectacular event for the audience. The event started off with a short speech by K-Gen president, Angelyna Chai, followed by a roll call of all the attending fan clubs. A total of 8 Malaysian fan clubs representing their artistes attended the event, namely SHINee, Big Bang, 2NE1, FT Island, TVXQ, Super Junior, 4Minute and Beast.
The event kicked off with a performance by Progression, K-Gen’s main crowd puller. Progression consist of 10 boy
s, who shot to fame by winning Korea Tourism Organization’s Korean Wave Contest(KWC) early this year which earned them a chance to perform in Korea.
In this event, Progression prepared 4 dance routines, dancing to their famous Bonamana(Super Junior), TVXQ mix, Soom (BEAST) and I'll be back(2PM). The crowd went wild for them, and some were even seen to dance enthusiastically to the catchy beat and dance moves. This group definitely knows how to please the crowd.
Besides Progression, there was also a performance by Epsilon, the 1st runner up of KWC. This group consists of 5 girls famous for their SHINee covers. However, only 4 of them managed to attend the event but this did not dampen the crowd’s spirit as they managed to make the crowd asking for an encore after their flawless first performance of Miss A’s song, Breathe.
Another group synonymous to the KWC also is JSY, who are known for their energetic moves to 4Minute covers. Again, they did not fail to 
disappoint the audience although missing a member by delivering yet another unforgettable performance of a 4minute mix songs.
The event also provided opportunities to the participating fan clubs to showcase their artistes’s achievements and journey to fame since their first debut. This came in the form of a 10 minute video viewing for each fan club. Suprisingly, the crowd reacted as if the artistes were right in front of them and cheered as loudly as they could. The lecture theatre was also buzzing with fans singing along to their artiste’s hit songs and even danced along in their seats.
A break ensued in midway the event with food sponsored by The Street Cafe. The fans were quick to return to their seats after the break, anticipating the next highlight of the event which was the dance competition. This competition attracted 3 participating teams, with 2 being teams from Taylors and 1 from the public.
Although there were some technical glitches faced, the emcees were quick to rectify it by keeping the crowd occupied by organizing lucky draws. The prizes range from mouse pads courtesy of Korea Plaza to a TVXQ Korean edition CD courtesy of Darawa, an online shopping blog. An impromptu talent show was also held, with 4 participants volunteering to dance and sing.
Finally it was the announcement of the results of the dance competition. The first place went to an all-girls group, Dawn’s Arch, followed by Ruffneckz and N.E. The VIPs and performers were also given a token of appreciation. It also came to a surprise to all when Progression announced that this will be their final performance for the year.
Before the event wrapped up, a photo session took place. Besides that, there was also an opportunity for the audience to try on hanbok, which are Korean traditional clothes, as well as a game of Tuho, sponsored by Korea Plaza. A display of fan collection items as well as message writing to artistes were also held outside the lecture theatre.
Although the event faced some hiccups, the K-Gen team hoped that they had at least managed to create an awareness on the popularity of Hallyu, not only in Taylors campus, as well as to the public. Certainly K-Gen had achieved this halfway as this event attracted many curious journalists and even passerbys. Hopefully, this would be a great stepping stone for K-Gen to organize bigger and better events in the upcoming years.
The other sponsors of this event were YG and epop magazines as well as mydestinycollection.com. Besides that, they have also received complimentary tickets for Jay Park showcase tickets sponsored by absolutelypop.
K-Gen is a non-profit club set up in Taylors University, Lakeside Campus, aiming at providing a platform for youths in Malaysia to gather and share their interest in Korean culture and entertainment. They can be contacted through Facebook at K- Generation(K-Gen) Taylors, or email kgen.taylors@gmail.com.
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