Masterclass with SMTown choreographer Baek Koo Young and meeting Eunhyuk

The London KPop Dance Workshop and OZ-Partners teamed up to create a very special event in London for KPop fans. We were very lucky to be given the opportunity to host the first KPop Masterclass in the UK with a professional choreographer/back up dancer for one of the biggest agencies in South Korea - SM Entertainment. This agency has artists such as BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, Girls' Generation and f(x) under their belt.

Tammy (the founder of the workshop) and I (the lead promoter) only had about 3 weeks to plan this event. First of all payment had to be made for his travel, we had to find a studio big enough and cheap enough and of course we had to promote this event as much as we could. In fact, this whole planning lark was so stressful we only found a decent studio about a week before the event was meant to happen! Everywhere was fully booked!

We chose Husky Studios; a fantastic place with very friendly staff members and has been used by the X Factor and record label giants like Virgin, EMI and many more. The studios has many recording studios and 2 dance studios - thankfully the biggest one was available for the date we wanted it for.

We planned as much as we could and even got ourselves customised TShirts with our logo on so that the students could easily identify who the people in charge were, plus...it's just good to have custom made TShirts!

As I had to meet some of our students at the station, I ran out and actually bumped into Rak - CEO of OZ-Partners - Koo Young himself and his assistant Daniel for the first time. Koo Young oozed coolness and had his cap and shades on, looking like the cool dude that he is. I had to quickly scarper to collect the students and made my way back a.s.a.p.

When I came back the number of students in the studio had grown massively and we had about 30 people. Tammy and I gathered everyone together and introduced ourselves, thanked everyone for coming, welcomed Koo Young and Daniel by giving them a big cheer and after that, I led the warm up. Military style! Hope it got you guys pumped up and raring to go!

Then it was Koo Young's turn. He is honestly one of the sweetest, kindest and loveliest guys I have ever come across. He admitted he was a bit shy and was embarrassed at his English but he really needn't have worried - his English was perfect and practically fluent. He first taught everyone the chorus to Lucifer by SHINee which was a massive surprise, as the first class was meant to be a TVXQ number! At first I was annoyed that the dance had changed without us being consulted but then I was like screw it - I'm going to finally learn Lucifer!! And I then became very excited!!

He's a great teacher with mad dancing skills, but he also has such a funny sense of humour as does Daniel. The both of them kept every one of us giggling our socks off with their funny actions! They are both very down to Earth and approachable - not a single Diva bone in their body - and it was such a privilege and honour to work with them both.

We were lucky enough to have the Korean TV channel YTN come and film this masterclass, so hopefully you should see it on Korean TV soon! They interviewed us LoKo's and everyone dancing and stayed for both sessions.

An hour and 45 minutes later it was lunch time, so everyone got to chill out for an hour and look at all the merchandise OZ-Partners had brought along. There were posters, keyrings, post it's, even socks! It went down a storm and everyone was delighted at the merchandise that they bought. Koo Young went up to people and talked to them which was really nice of him. He could have just sat in the corner eating his Nando's but no - he gave everyone the time of day and was eager to talk to the UK fanbase. Likewise with Daniel - he also proved to be very popular with the students! He met Koo Young at SMTown in Paris and managed to get Koo Young to do 4 workshops in Paris, hence how we managed to get him over to London.
We also had two lovely women who used to work at MBC in Korea, they were even producers of the popular TV show "We Got Married". They live in the UK now and are studying, and they wanted to come to our workshop for research. They both had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the masterclass!

The second set was about to start so I led another warm up, and then Koo Young taught TVXQ's "Before U Go". Koo Young created this dance himself and you can see him in the dance video! (You can also see him in Keep Your Head Down and the Maximum dance practice video).
Again, it was a lot of fun learning the dance (there was a lot of banter about hip thrusts, emotions with your ex's and even the dance routine itself!)

Everyone worked really hard and really sweated it out! In both sessions Koo Young got people to do it in groups and then did the dances himself with Daniel. Videos of the workshop will be uploaded soon!

Sadly the masterclass had to come to an end at some point, and this was where everyone started to take their pictures with Koo Young, Daniel, the LoKo's and the new friends they made!

Koo Young was very impressed with the UK Kpop fanbase - you were all very enthusiastic and responsive, you worked hard and you all welcomed them so warmly too. Koo Young would love to come back to teach you all again - and perhaps some newbies! - and I told him to bring more choreographers with him ;-)

Tammy being interviewed by YTN

Baek Koo Young and Daniel

Second session group!

The LoKo Team with Daniel, Koo Young and Rak

Learning Lucifer

Daniel

Koo Young

After the masterclass we took the MBC ladies, Koo Young and Daniel out for a meal. The atmosphere was fun and friendly, with a lot of laughter going on, getting to know each other and just generally had a good time. As a thank you, the LoKo's gave both Koo Young and Daniel gifts which they were very touched with.

And then, the biggest surprise of them all...Eunhyuk from Super Junior was in London!! I had been out of the loop for ages so had missed Eunhyuk tweeting about London...so him coming to see the LoKo's and Koo Young especially was the cherry on top of a very large cake. Eunhyuk came strolling down the stairs in his grey jumper, his blonde hair styled perfectly and greeted us politely as we bowed and said "hello" in Korean. After a few minutes he came over to talk to us! He was just two seats away from me and tried very hard to speak English, although we did say he could speak to Koo Young in Korean and Koo Young could translate, but Eunhyuk was determined! He asked us how old we were and asked me who my favourite member from Super Junior was (I said him and Ryeowook...and he didn't understand...apparently after all this time I've been pronouncing Ryeowook's name wrong! It's pronounced "lee-oh-woo" apparently!) He was also very surprised at how much we knew about Super Junior and asked what our favourite song was. He was pleasantly surprised when I told him I had their latest album, saw the Mr. Simple video on Deanna's phone ("That's me! I got the coat!") and I also played him some of their songs from my phone, and told him "No Other" was my ringtone. I also told him I was at SMTown in Paris. We had some British sweets left over so gave them to Eunhyuk as a gift!

He stayed for roughly an hour before deciding to go back to his hotel for some sleep. He was really kind and very sweet, and we're very, very grateful he took the time to meet us. We took some pictures with him, and then he gave us all a hug each before leaving.

Caroline, Eunhyuk and Deanna

Caroline, Eunhyuk, Rak (OZ-Partners) and Deanna

Caroline, Eunhyuk, Tammy and Deanna

 A massive, massive thank you once again to all of our students for being so brilliant, Koo Young and Daniel just for being themselves and for coming over to teach!! And of course to Eunhyuk who took the time to meet his fans.

Want To Be Taught A Dance Routine From TVXQ's Choreographer?

Well, you're in bloody good luck!

The London KPop Dance Workshop - which I run alongside with my work partner Tammy - have managed to get an SMEntertainment backing dancer and choreographer to come to London to teach you dance routines! Don't tell me that isn't amazing, because if you think it isn't...you're nuts.

We are being sponsored by OZ-Partners, a Korean company that Tammy and I worked with on the London MBC Auditions. Together, we have managed to make this happen for the UK Kpop fans.

So Who Is This Choreographer? 
His name is Baek Koo Young (백구영) and currently works with SMEntertainment. As stated in the title, he is the backing dancer and choreographer of TVXQ (DBSK!!) but he has also worked with: SHINee, Girls' Generation, f(x), After School, Son Dam Bi, Baek Ji Young, Crown-J, Jang Woo Hyuk and many more. Recognise any of those names? Of course you do. This man's big and he's willing to teach YOU!

He is also teaching in Paris for 4 days from 25th-28th October and has managed to make a short video for the Paris workshops. Unfortunately we have not received a video for the London ones (yet) but just so you can see what he looks like...(I apologise that these videos aren't embedded. For someone reason it won't work!)

Message from Baek Koo Young - For Paris - English Version.

Message from Baek Koo Young - For Paris - Korean Version.

Baek Koo Young is featured TVXQ's music video "Before U Go"



So What Are The Details?
DATE: 29th October 2011 (Saturday)
TIME: 10:45am - 3:15pm
VENUE: Husky Studios, 29a Amelia Street, London, SE17 3PY, Elephant and Castle. Just a short 10 minute walk away from Elephant and Castle and Kennington tube stations.


What's The Schedule?
10:45am - 11:00am = Registration
11:00am - 12:45pm = Session 1 (TVXQ dance - song unconfirmed)
12:45pm - 13:30pm = Lunch / 2nd session registration / merchandise selling
13:30pm - 15:15pm = Session 2 (Super Junior dance - song unconfirmed)


Do We Have To Pay?
Erm, well yes. But we promise you it's cheap! We understand that many of our KPop fans are teenagers/students, and in this day and age money is hard to come by. But we are having to pay for his travel, the studio and his time, and if we could make it free then we would, but unfortunately we don't have money coming out of our ears either.


So How Much Is It Then?
It entirely depends on how many sessions you want to attend.
One session only: £15
Whole workshop: £25


And that's all it costs!


So How Do We Tell You We're Attending And How Do We Pay?
Easy peasy. Just go to our event page (link is below), click "attend" and then send an e-mail to Londonkpopdance@gmail.com asking for an invoice, stating how many people are attending and what session(s) you want to attend. We will then send you an invoice, where you will pay by card and then your place is booked! Simple!


We're using PayPal for payments. PayPal is free to use so when you purchase your spot, that's all you're paying for. No add-ons whatsoever! Plus, you don't even need to have an account with PayPal to pay! How much easier can it get?!


ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE PAID IN ADVANCE. THIS IS SO WE KNOW PEOPLE ARE DEFINITELY COMING. HIRING A STUDIO IS EXPENSIVE, NOT TO MENTION WHAT WE'VE HAD TO PAY FOR TRAVEL. WE DIDN'T ORGANISE THIS JUST FOR PEOPLE TO NOT TURN UP! IF YOU'RE PAYING, YOU'RE COMING. NO PAYMENT, NO SPOT, NO CLASS AND THAT'S FINAL. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU PAY AS SOON AS YOU CAN. WE CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. CLICKING "ATTEND" ON FACEBOOK DOES NOT MEAN YOUR PLACE IS BOOKED. ENQUIRING FOR AN INVOICE DOES NOT MEAN YOUR PLACE IS BOOKED. PAYMENT DOES.

I'm Definitely Coming! Any Other Details I Need To Know About?!
Yes. We are also selling merchandise! Go to our Facebook fanpage to check out what we're selling.
Please read the following sub-headings:

Attire:
It is advisable to wear gym clothes, baggy clothes, sweat pants, leggings, etc. Basically anything you consider 'comfortable' and something you feel you can move in. As for footwear, you are allowed to wear trainers or plimsolls **AS LONG AS THEY ARE CLEAN** You are not allowed to dance in socks due to health and safety regulations. If you have dance shoes, feel free to use those as well or dance in bare feet.

Food:
**If you choose to attend BOTH SESSIONS please bring a packed lunch**
Also, bring water or something to drink. It is advisable not to bring sugary drinks because these types of drinks usually make you feel more dehydrated. Any litter from food must be cleared. These studios do not belong to the London Kpop Dance Workshop team or OZ-Partners, so please respect the studio rules. 

 And that's it!! If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to ask.


FACEBOOK
EVENT PAGE 
TWITTER
londonkpopdance@gmail.com

London KPop Dance Workshop - October Dates!

Hello everyone, the London KPop Dance Workshop is at it again; we've added TWO new fabulous workshop dates!

Our second and third workshop will be held in the same place as last time, Finsbury Park, and at exactly the same time. Girls and boys are welcome on October 22nd, but it's strictly girls only on October 28th!

The theme for the first workshop is Boybands so everyone will be learning 3 boyband routines! These are as follows:

Caroline:
TVXQ - Before U Go

Isabelle:
Beast - Shock

Tammy:
Infinite - Come Back Again

Feel like it's your thing? Excellent! Our workshop will be held on Saturday, October 22nd 2011.

If you wish to know more information (such as what to come in, what to bring, costs etc), please go to the Official Facebook Event Page. Please click "attending" if you are actually going to attend, and as there are limited spaces please write on the wall so we know what order people have said they're attending in!

The theme for the second workship is Girlbands so you're all going to be learning girlband routines! These are as follows:

Jem:
Miss A - Breathe

Deanna:
T-ara - I Go Crazy Because of You

Tammy:
After School - Bang!


The event page for this workshop is RIGHT HERE. The date for this is Saturday, October 28th 2011. Same rules apply.

Thanks everyone, hope to see you there!

London KPop Dance Workshop - FIRST LESSON REVIEW

Hello to all my lovely readers, I'm so sorry this is late!

Anyway, as shown in a previous blog post, me and a couple of my friends decided to open up a Kpop workshop where everyone can come together to learn their favourite KPop routines! Because sometimes people don't want to learn on their own, or they find it difficult to watch the dance versions on YouTube and have no-one to ask how to do specific steps...we thought it was a great idea.

We held our first lesson on 5th September 2011 at the London School of Capoeira in Finsbury Park. We met our lovely students at the Finsbury Park tube station (one came from St. Albans, Hertfordshire and two other girls came from near Brighton!! Check out those troopers for getting up extra early!) and then we walked to the studios.

We started off with a nice, energetic warm up to get us pumped up (With Super Junior's song "Mr. Simple") and then we slowed it down with some stretching to TVXQ's "Before You Go". After everyone had something to drink, we started off our first Kpop Dance Lesson!

Before we taught the students any of the routine, we gave them a demonstration of what they were going to learn, so I danced to the first chorus of TVXQ's song "Keep Your Head Down". After that I got everyone up and started to teach them it! We probably taught the routines in the wrong order as I think this was the hardest dance for our students! Oopsies! They still did well in learning the routine considering the fact that none of them really had any dancing experience, and of course everyone picks things up at different rates. But still, I tried to teach it as best as I could! Usually I'm the dance student so it was interesting to view a dance class in a different light as a teacher. I had fun teaching it and hope my students had fun learning it in my lesson!

After that it was Tammy's turn to teach the chorus to SHINee's song "Replay". After performing it, she began to teach it to the class. Much easier than "Keep Your Head Down" I have to say! It was my first time learning the dance too, so it was good to mingle with the students and be in the same boat so we could learn together! Tammy was a great teacher who was very patient and bubbly, although a bit nervous when it became her turn to stand in front of the class!

We had an hour's lunch, so this was really the time to get to know my students more and just gush over KPop idols and listen to juicy gossip! I was so pleased that we attracted just a nice bunch of people who were enthusiastic about KPop and...well, not just a bunch of nutters really! I think I speak for everyone when I say it was so nice to converse with people who are on exactly the same level and "get" what you're into.

After that it was time for our third teacher, Jem, to teach Miss A's "Goodbye Baby". Everyone picked up the chorus quickly so Jem also taught everyone the floor bit at the beginning, which received a lot of giggles! The atmosphere was really positive and everyone got along, I think we all had a really good time! When Jem's set finished we had a good ol' recap to make sure all what we learned was still there, and then we said our goodbyes!

Me, Tammy, Jem and Christina (Tam and Christina are God-sisters) went to the outskirts of Chinatown to gorge on Korean food where Jem and I squealed in our chairs and danced to TVXQ's "Mirotic" when it came on over the speakers! Haha! (But it was in Japanese?! In a Korean cafe?! Why?!)

So overall, our first workshop was a success! Thank you to all who turned up!!! We hope to see you at our next lesson, and of course it would be great to see new faces too!! Here is a picture of the teachers and the students, and a video of our workshop so you can see what goes on!

Arirang UCC My K-Pop! 2 Cover Dance Contest & KBS Interview!

Hello everyone!!

I am actually behind on my blog posts...I have to write up what happened on the Kpop Dance Workshop but I promise that will be up soon!!

Anyway, my friend and fellow K-Pop Dance Teacher Tammy and I decided to enter in the Arirang Contest. It was a lot of fun to do but also included tons of hardwork, and if I didn't hear this song again for a long time I think I'd be very happy!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE TVXQ and the song, but I've just heard it way too many times now...!

We decided to do "Keep Your Head Down" because it's funky, masculine, and as we rightly discovered, a dance that not many people would choose to do so thought it would help us stand out a bit more! Because I live in Essex and Tammy lives in London, and because of work and everything else, we only had 3 days to learn the dance itself. 3 days. And then we shot the video!

My friend Alex Morris studied film at University so asked him to film it for us on his super nice camera, and my friend Martin (yep, the guy that got me the job on the MBC Auditions: Series 2) came and helped us as well by driving us to Essex and supplied a bit of lighting for us.

The locations we chose to film in were East London and Southend, Essex. We nearly got mugged and frost bite on our toes due to the cold water but it was a good, fun day overall!! We decided to have dirty, grimy surroundings because we thought it went well with the music and made it look tough, just like the lyrics are (although we clearly weren't tough when running away from the hooded muggers lol!) We spent a whole 12 hours shooting the video.

Editing was a complete nightmare because we wanted to edit it in iMovie, so I used my friend's Mac laptop. In a Currys store. Because that's where he works. And also where his Apple Mac was. Bit odd and embarrassing! We were there all day editing it, and then I had to go back the next day to transfer the files onto an external hardrive so I could take it home and upload it onto YouTube because the store had limited internet access...except the external hardrive was only windows formatted so we had an absolutely traumatising time trying to partial it so it was half Mac and half Windows, except it decided it just didn't want to work so had put all the files (including all the "behind the scenes" stuff) onto discs. 7 of them to be precise. It took a very long time and made me want to cry.

But that wasn't all! Oh no!! We soon realised we made a boo-boo because at the beginning you're supposed to say a slogan before your video starts. We had decorated pieces of paper that said the slogan but we physically didn't say it ourselves! *serious facepalm* Thankfully I was seeing Martin who had a Mac, so we downloaded the video from YouTube and used iMovie to dub the voice on top. PHEW!!!!

Some pictures...

Southend Central carpark

Tammy and I looking very moody in East London! Maybe it was because of the smell of wee and a used condom nearby?? Classy!!

Southend beach

Before the "mugging"...

Tammy and I looking very unamused...

Southend carpark

On Southend beach with Martin

Peace to Arirang and Korea!!

Dancing in the "forest"

Keep Your Head Down!

Thank you so much to everyone's hardwork and for everyone's support and patience!! Our video is right here...please "like" our video, comment on it and share with your friends!! Thank you!!

Tammy and I are also featured in an interview with KBS about the popularity of K-Pop in the UK. Our friends came too! It was a lot of fun to film and many thanks to KPop In The UK for advertising the chance to be interviewed. Please watch it HERE, we are featured from 6:14 onwards! (No idea why it's not embedding so a link will have to do!)

End of Summer KPop Dance Workshop

Tired of trying to learn your favourite idol’s dance routine by watching the music videos a million times? Finding it hard to follow tutorial videos? You can’t find a decent mirrored, slowed down, hd videos to follow?

Inject the end of the summer holiday with a last minute dose of Kpop and attend the end of summer Kpop Dance workshop!

WHERE:
London School of Capoeira Herança
Unit 1 and 2 Leeds Place
Tollington Park
London N4 3RF

WHEN:
Monday 5th September 

TIME:
10:00am – 5:00pm

DETAILS:
The Kpop Dance workshop

3 people will teach their favourite kpop dance set step by step in 3 slots during the day. There will be an hour lunch break in between and a recap of all the dances at the end.

Open to all levels. (It’s Kpop, it’s universal!)

As this is the first workshop we want to have a good mix of dances - beginners, to intemediate to difficult.

DANCE LIST AND TEACHERS.

Miss A – Taught by Jem Redah
(teaches Kpop dance classes at her college)

DBSK – Taught by Caroline Stacey  
(18 years dance experience)

Shinee – Taught by Tammy Jane M.
(a simple Kpop lover or addict - as others might say haha!)

The cost of the one day workshop is £20.

A normal drop in dance class averages at £10 per hour.
Our Kpop workshop is £20 = £2.85 per hour for our 7 hour workshop. Bargain! 

This workshop is limited due to the studio space, so it will be a first come first serve basis. ***IF YOU CLICK ATTEND PLEASE WRITE ON THE EVENT WALL so we can monitor who the “first” attendees are***
We will confirm the attendees with an inbox message.

This particular workshop is ONLY open to GIRLS. This is due to religious reasons with one of our teachers.
Apologies for this, future workshops will be open to everyone. 






**Clothing and other items**
I shouldn't really have to say this, but PLEASE wear appropriate clothing!! Although this workshop is meant for fun, we're going to make you work as well to bring out your inner potential! So please avoid wearing sleeves (unless they're baggy), wear comfortable bottoms (jogging bottoms, 3 quarter lengths, leggings etc are acceptable. DO NOT wear jeans! Whatever you do, do NOT wear jeans!) When in doubt, wear what you would wear to the gym! For those with larger breasts (hey, it has to be said) please wear a bra that supports you and/or a crop top to hold you in. Nothing worse than sore boobs!!! I (Caroline) have to deal with it when I exercise so just passing on the message lol.
Please also AVOID wearing trainers in the studio. Not only does it hinder your performance ability due to the rubber soles rubbing on the floor (IMO, personally) but they can also leave marks on the floor and we DON'T want that!! These studios have to left in PRISTINE condition when we finish and I don't think they'll like walking in to see black marks on their floors! Also AVOID dancing in socks. This can lead to slipping and causing an injury! So please dance in BARE FEET. Anyone with verruca's is required to wear a plaster. If anyone happens to have any dance shoes (i.e. ballet shoes - as in proper ballet shoes, not the "fashion" kind - or jazz shoes) then you are welcome to wear those.
Please, please, PLEASE bring lots of water with you. Again, we aim to not only teach you how to do the steps, but how to do the dance properly so you need to consume lots of water to keep you hydrated. Please avoid sugary/fizzy/easily stainable drinks. We cannot provide food so please bring your own or bring money to buy some!
Please also bring deodorant! Obvious reasons as to why this is lol...
 
**Future Workshops** Ideally, we would like to run more classes during the school breaks (as this one was last minute). If anyone cannot attend this one, don’t worry, we are planning to organise more! Also, if there are dances you would like to learn leave comments below.

!!!Teachers!!! Anyone who would like to teach their favourite Kpop dance in future classes, please inbox message (Tammy Jane) with the dance/s you know or would like to teach. You DO NOT have to be a professional dancer or dance teacher if you would like to participate as a teacher. 


FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE, CLICK HERE.

MBC UK Auditions - The Aftermath!

Yesterday was the MBC Auditions in London, and I have to say I can't remember the last time work was so much fun!

As a big K-Pop fan, I was delighted when I was asked to help out with the project. It's been a bit stressful at times; calling people around the UK and Europe making sure they're still attending, writing e-mails, not hearing back from people, trying to sort things out a.s.a.p, organise some filming... it's been one hell of a ride! I thoroughly enjoyed helping out with all the organising though - a massive thank you to Martin who trusted me enough with the job and gave me the chance. I hope I did you proud!

August 6th seemed so far away when I was asked to help but all of a sudden it seemed to come round in a heartbeat. Excited, I jumped on a London bound train and arrived at Westminster Central Hall at quarter to nine in the morning.

There was hardly anyone there and for a while I was the only English person around! More Korean workers came in after some time and Martin gave us a tour around the building...all in Korean I might add! After the tour he explained a couple more things in Korean while I just kind of stood there trying to stifle my giggles. I really had no idea what was going on! Eventually he went silent and looked around the room, so I assumed that the last thing he said was "Are there any questions?" so I sheepishly put my hand up and said "Can I have a translation in English please?" which made quite a few people laugh! Thankfully some of the Koreans knew English!

It was exciting watching all the cameras being set up, and looking around me I couldn't believe I was part of such a big production. Bit hard to believe I was working for a Korean TV channel and that all of this was going to be aired in another country! And the fact that I helped organise a few bits too. It was just really special to work behind the scenes and see it physically come together, and come together so well! 

Some of the crowd outside

My post was on the registration desk where I would sign in the English and European contestants. We had an excel sheet on our laptops that had a list of all the contestants who applied; we had to find their application, staple their consent form to it and then give them a number. I'd like to say it was easy,  except that we often had trouble with the application forms! Sometimes they weren't in a folder so we had to print it off instead, or sometimes their application wasn't on the system at all so they had to fill out a new one. I think a lot of pens mysteriously went missing...

Anyway, after a short while everyone was gathered onto the top balcony so they could film the contestants chanting in Korean. (Martin was great at getting everyone's attention -  considering he's so little it's surprising how much his voice can BOOM. Mind you, it was a bit echoey...anyway...!)
Shortly after they gathered everyone into the waiting room so they could watch Shayne and Hyung Woo-Cho perform a duet together. They were both contestants on the previous series; Shayne's from Canada and Hyung is from Korea, although he did live in Surrey, England for about 4 years if my memory serves me right, so his English was very good!
I watched some of the performance and a camera man clocked me. He said he knew who I was, which was very bizarre! Turns out he knew of the videos I took at Abbey Road Studios when SHINee came, and said he'd like to interview me! He gave me his business card so I need to get in touch with him at some point...very cool and very weird at the same time...In fact, I had a couple of Korean TV camera crew people saying they recognised me. I'm really not sure how! One said he thinks he saw me on TV...I did appear on Korean TV for like a split second once, but that was it! Very, very bizarre!!
After that the signing in commenced! It was a real buzz, really loved it. Everyone that was working on the desk was so lovely and friendly too which made the whole experience that much more awesome, so thanks everyone! It was fantastic to work with you all.

Spreadsheet!

Folders upon folders...

Contestants on balcony!

Contestants in waiting room watching Shayne and Woo-Cho sing

Shayne and Hyung Woo-Cho

Soon it began to die down as most of the contestants had gone into the waiting room. We decided it was time to grab some lunch so we went to the staff room (Shayne warned us that the vegetarian sandwiches were "horrible", haha! Thanks Shayne. Maybe next time you should try the non-vegetarian variety as you're not a vegetarian?! Funny boy! I personally thought the ham sandwiches were quite good...)
The MC - Sang-Jin Oh - was in the staff room at a table on his own playing his guitar (although I didn't know it was actually him until I saw the orange jeans. I was teasing and saying to the girls how he was just attention seeking because he was playing guitar - jokingly of course - and then I saw it was him and realised he understood English perfectly. I hope he didn't hear me and think I was being serious...!) Eventually Hyung came in and sat down with us to have a chat, and then the camera man who knew of my videos came in too and joined us. Turns out he actually got my videos from SM ENTERTAINMENT THEMSELVES?!? I think I nearly died!

After that it was more work time! More signing in...and after a while there wasn't really anything to do at all. Shayne came to reception and sat next to me, laughing at all the British expressions I kept coming out with and used a laptop on the desk to surf the internet!

I began to wander around to see if there was anything to do elsewhere. I found some co-workers in the waiting hall, where I also saw Hyung and Sang-Jin. The girls convinced me to have a picture taken with both men (I was shy - can you blame me?!) so I did! Sang-Jin put his arm around me and did the peace sign, and Hyung lent in and put his head close to mine as we posed for our photo. Many thanks to the girls that took the pictures for me!

Me and Hyung Woo-Cho

Me and Sang-Jin Oh

Major LOL at the Korean dudes behind us!

Soon after I got to chat with Sang-Jin for quite some time, about 15-20 minutes! He's a very nice, approachable man who loves his job - he's been to the UK about 4 times hence the good English skills! He said I should have auditioned...well, maybe I would have if I could sing in Korean!!

After more milling around, more banter with Shayne and more snooping at all the behind the scenes stuff, it was time to clear up!!

 

Hyung being being filmed with an auditionee

A massive thank you to all who attended, it was a very successful day! And it was great to finally put a face to a name too with some of you! Thank you to the team for all your hard work and enthusiasm, thank you to Martin for, well, everything!! And a massive thank you the Shayne, Hyung Woo-Cho and Sang-Jin for coming over; it was a pleasure and a privilege to meet you all! I hope to see you again in the future and stay in touch!

Me and Shayne

Congratulations to those who got through, and for those who didn't...better luck next time!! ;-) Hopefully the MBC Auditions will come again next year!!