By Valerie Lopez | @valschwarie
Instagram user @jayb_baby, Jada, recently went viral on Twitter for her dance cover of EXO Kai’s solo debut song “Mmmh.” Various EXO fan pages promoted her cover of “Mmmh” on Twitter after Kai liked it on Instagram. In the video, Jada successfully captured the essence of the song, executing the dance well right down to the textures and feel in her chic form fitting, all-white outfit.
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Jada is a dancer with an Instagram and Youtube dedicated to covering choreography. She has amassed over 7,100 followers on her Instagram, while her Youtube channel has over 4,600 subscribers. Her dance covers have been recognized by EXO’s Kai and Baekhyun, K-pop soloist AleXa, Kasper, Mihawk, Bada Lee, and many other well-known choreographers in the dancing world.
Jada is an experienced dancer with over 10 years of practice in hip-hop dance and various other genres including house, waacking, heels and commercial dance. She has even competed on a competitive team.
“I love dancing, to me it is a necessity like breathing or eating. It gives me so much joy and always puts me in a happy, joyful vibe. It is also a way to express yourself and your emotions that you can’t quite communicate to people through speech,” Jada said.
“My love for K-pop choreography is too big and so I wanted to also show my take on it to the world!“ she said.
Jada has been a fan of K-pop since 2011 when she discovered a video called “Kids React to K-pop” on Youtube. One of the first groups that caught her attention was the YG girl group 2NE1 with their hit song “I am the Best.”
“The way they represented themselves, the concept, and the empowering feel of the song really stuck with me and practically lured me into the world of K-music. It changed my life forever,” Jada laughed.
Jada’s favorite group is currently the boy group NCT, who charmed her with their debut song “The 7th Sense.” Her favorite members are Johnny, Mark, Jaehyun, and Taeyong.
She has covered many NCT songs including their recent tracks “Gimme Gimme,” “Work It,” “90s Love” and “Make a Wish.”
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Aside from Jada’s skillful dancing and presence, what stands out in her covers is her fashion. “I think my outfits play a huge role in my dance covers because they communicate what vibe the choreography or song has. This is also very predominant in K-pop music videos,” she said. “The visual is very important and I always try to include outfits that match the vibe of the song and the concept. I study fashion and styling, next to the actual choreography, is one of my favorite parts of my dance covers.”
While her accounts mostly feature cover choreography, she has also taken a crack at choreographing herself. She has created original dance covers to BTS songs “Ugh” and “A Brand New Day.”
Some of Jada’s favorite choreographers include Bada Lee, Bailey Sok, and Melvin Timtim.
Jada encourages people who are interested in learning how to dance to pursue dance no matter how difficult it may be.
“I know it’s hard because if you are interested in learning something, you want to know how to do it immediately but with this mindset you’ll only put so much pressure on yourself. Learn the basics at your own pace and look careful at what more professional dancers do when they dance: how they listen to the music and how they hit a certain move. Always, and I mean it, always do something if it makes you happy!”
Check out another featured talented artist ST.ARY here!
