Cover dance (also known as dance cover) is the act of replicating a dance choreography, particularly from Japanese idol or Korean idol music acts and Vocaloid songs.
History
Cover dances first gained popularity online in Japan in March 2007, with many people posting videos of themselves performing the choreography for "Hare Hare Yukai" (colloquially referred to as the "Haruhi dance"), the ending theme song to the 2006 anime adaptation of
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
This later grew to include cover dances of
Berryz Kobo and other Japanese
Japanese idol singers and groups.
Cover dance videos created through
MikuMikuDance were also associated with the category.
It became established as a genre known as "I tried dancing" on video-sharing websites, named after the search keyword on the video-sharing website
Niconico.
People who performed cover dances were known as θΈγζ. Notable who later became idols themselves include from
Danceroid and Dempagumi.inc,
,
and
Keekihime.
Impact
Cover dance videos on YouTube get tens of thousands of views,
[ with groups like Chocomint HK becoming .]
A worldwide phenomenon,[ Paris has become a hub for recording these videos, and has a K-pop dance academy.]
The K-POP Cover Dance Festival has been held annually since 2011.
See also
