Next In Action (N.I.A), FAU’s first ever K-pop dance group is hosting an upcoming Spring Showcase on March 14. The showcase will be held in the Carole and Barry Kaye Auditorium and will start at 6 p.m. 

 N.I.A, since its founding in 2019, has slowly grown in size with the group membership expanding to an estimated 40 members. The Spring 2023 showcase is the biggest that the group has ever done so far and their third overall.

“The fact that we can have it at the auditorium it’s already a big accomplishment for us. We never thought we would be able to have those showcases at the auditorium, but it’s happening. We’re really excited and we can’t believe that we’ve had that much going on in a year,” said Dama Blanco Torres, the N.I.A public relations coordinator.

 In the past year, the group has started to implement more changes the more that they have grown in membership, including more duties for non-dancing members.

The group has been posting dance content on their Instagram page, now which involves different committees to help prepare for videos shoots such as the filming and styling committees. 

“We’ve also branched out from not just being a dance team. We have filming committee, styling committee, PR committee, event committee, just a lot of things and ways to integrate people who do like K-pop, but don’t happen to dance. So we wanted to make it possible for everyone to feel involved with N.I.A,” said Darn Faveur, the president and founder of N.I.A.

According to Monica Juilen, the event coordinator for N.I.A and the head of the event committee, there has been plenty of work going into throwing this Spring Showcase. Not just with the dancers, but the group as a whole. As the event coordinator Juilen took care of duties such as booking the venue and finding vendors.

“It’s not hard but it does come with a lot of responsibilities and they have to get done in a according manner,” said Juilen.

While others have dealt with the stress of preparations for the showcase, Blanco who is graduating in December felt that this time has been a lot easier for her after performing for two past N.I.A showcases.

“I’m trying to stay positive and trying to enjoy everything that I have left with all of these moments with my friends,” said Blanco.

Since the showcase is taking place on a larger stage than it has in the past the members want to utilize the space as much as they can. Students can expect some of the dances that have been showcased on N.I.A’s Instagram page, but they can also expect some surprise dances that have not been seen before. Additionally, there are plans to have singing performances and dance solos to highlight the members.

Students can also purchase K-pop-themed merchandise from the four vendors that will be at the event.

“Some of them are students that go to FAU and they also join our org. The vendors will sell K-pop merchandise like for example tote bags and photocard holders. Some people are even selling custom PCs that they make themselves and keychains.” said Juilen.

Juilen also hopes that this semester’s showcase can appeal to everyone in the audience, not just K-pop fans as some members of the audience are friends and family who aren’t interested in K-pop but come out to support the members. 

“That’s something definitely considered because most people, they do come to just support their friends or family. And then we do have some Kpop stans that also will come to support us, but we just wanted it as engaging for everyone so that they can have similar, almost the same experience when it comes to our showcase,” said Juilen.

This showcase will also include some guest performances from Atlantic ZeNami, the dance team for the Asian Student Union, and Kohesion Step Team, who are first-time guest performers for N.I.A.

“They can expect to see a lot of hard-hitting dances since we are in the auditorium this semester. We wanted to target more entertaining and fun dances that will keep the audience excited. We have a lot of members who are talented singers, so there will be singing performances. Lots of solos and a lot of graduates who are leaving so we plan on highlighting them as well. So they should expect a fun and entertaining show,” said Faveur.

For more information about this event or N.I.A., check out their Instagram.

Melanie Gomez is the Features Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, you can contact her at [email protected] or on her Instagram page @cupidfloats.