Mamamoo's Hwasa under fire over racy choreography at college festival

Fan opinions are divided over Hwasa's recent performance at a campus festival. Captured from Hwasa's social media account

By Yoo Soo-kyung

Hwasa's recent performance at a university in Seoul has become the topic of heated online debate.

The Mamamoo singer was invited to Sungkyunkwan University to perform at a campus festival on May 12. She was also being filmed for a new variety show on the cable network tvN titled “Dancing Queens on the Road”. Hwasa sang a medley of Mamamoo's greatest hits as well as “Don't Give”, her solo collaboration with Loco.

Hwasa is regarded as one of K-Pop's greatest on-stage performers and this latest event was no exception as she got the crowd buzzing with her powerful vocals and dance moves.

But controversy erupted after a fan video taken by one of the spectators went viral.

While performing the track “Don't Give”, Hwasa squatted on stage with her legs spread, licked her fingers and brushed them over her denim shorts in an apparently suggestive way.

It all happened in a brief moment, but it spawned a flood of GIFs and memes that soon landed Hwasa at the center of an online controversy.

The comments section of the viral fan video. Captured from YouTube

Some users were critical of Hwasa's performance, saying it was inappropriate for a student festival and too provocative, even bordering on vulgar. Others however came to her defense, applauding her confidence and taking issue with the way the original video was edited.

Many fans agreed that aside from that one particular dance move in question, there were no other issues with Hwasa's performance after watching it in full. But a comment from one user that received many likes cautioned that certain boundaries must always be respected when an artist is on stage.

TvN's “Dancing Queens on the Road” is a new variety show that will launch on May 25, featuring a cast of divas including Kim Wan-sun, Uhm Jung-hwa, Lee Hyori and BoA as they tour the nation to perform and meet their fans.

Yoo Soo-kyung (uu84@hankookilbo.com) is a reporter at The Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times. This article, previously published in The Hankook Ilbo, has been translated as part of a news-sharing program.