President Ernie Mok ’25 and Vice President Cathy Liu ’24 lead SYNK during rehearsal on October 2, 2022.
Every Sunday afternoon, students walking through Colony Hall will hear upbeat K-pop (Korean popular culture) music coming from the dance studio where SYNK rehearses. Led by President Ernie Mok ’25 and Vice President Cathy Liu ’24, SYNK aims to produce and perform dance covers to K-pop music. Together with their fellow K-pop lovers, they share the fun of dance and promote the genre to the wider school community.
Mok and Liu were inspired to found SYNK during their rehearsals for the Student Choreographers Showcase. Both Liu and Mok began learning K-pop dances through official dance practice videos and the “Random Play Dance” series on YouTube before coming to Choate. They quickly recognized their common passion when they danced together during rehearsal breaks. “A lot of dance classes here at Choate are more technical, like ballet, pointe, and contemporary. We thought this would be a bit more trendy and also more modern,” Mok said.
Mok revealed the word “SYNK” is, contrary to most club names on campus, not an acronym. “We didn’t want it to be called ‘K-Pop club’ necessarily, because we didn’t want to limit ourselves,” he said. “The main purpose is K-pop, but we just felt like a team name was a bit more suitable.” He further elaborated that their decision to use “sync” is an abbreviation of synchronization, a major component of K-pop dances, and ending it with a “k” represents K-pop.
Recently, SYNK held its first-ever auditions and welcomed 12 new members onto its team. Including the three cabinet members — Mok, Liu, and Treasurer Sophia Schmidt ’25 — SYNK now has 15 members in total. The auditions began with warm-ups and a basic introduction from everyone in the room. Then, the cabinet members taught the choreography for a section of “Back Door” by Stray Kids to prospective members and recorded them dancing it.
While finding the audition piece challenging, many auditionees expressed positive feelings toward the club’s atmosphere. “The dance was difficult, but the Vice President and President, the ones teaching us, were extremely helpful and approachable,” said Eva Swanson ’25, who was at the auditions. “Everybody there was very excited to be back dancing, which definitely calmed me down, as I always find tryouts and auditions stressful.”
New member Arissa Lee ’25, who is half-Korean, expressed her gratitude to SYNK for bringing her into the world of K-pop. “Sadly, I never truly got into K-pop or expressed my interest out of fear of being judged by my predominantly white classmates … Here at Choate, I feel more comfortable sharing who I am and hope to embrace my culture.” Lee also commented on the inclusive nature of the club: “SYNK is great because it allows everyone and anyone who enjoys it to come together and showcase that. There were people of every form, both boys and girls, showing how diverse K-pop fans can be.”
After a successful first audition season, SYNK is currently preparing a three-minute remix piece for its performance at the annual Pep Rally. Although members are anxious about the club’s inaugural performance, the energy at weekly rehearsals is high. Lee expressed her excitement, saying, “After watching the BTS concert in person, I hope to be able to channel some of the same energy they did that night at Pep Rally.”
Although Mok is unsure what to expect from the audience, he hopes the reception from the School at the Pep Rally will be positive. “I know the setting we’re in is a diverse setting, so some people will definitely like it. But, Choate is still a place where K-pop is not the mainstream music, so I hope people receive it well.”
Nonetheless, Mok also sees the Pep Rally as an opportunity to promote SYNK as a club. “We really hope that next year and the year after, we’ll get a lot more freshmen or newer students who will see the Rally and want to join the club.”
