On Saturday, May 24, a group of Grade 8 and 9 students representing Seisen took a Silver Award at the 2025 KPASS Dance Festival held at St. Maur International School in Yokohama. 

Seisen’s KPASS Dance Team was composed of Grade 8’s  Glory Chikolongo, Cecilia Chuma, Rei Fujino, Momoka Kubota, Chaeeun Oh, and Hannah Schrader, and Grade 9’s Sophie Chen, Risa Numata, Sujin Park, Aoba Shimada, and Lena Wong-Juhl. Their Faculty Supervisor this year was Dr. Reimer, who also escorted them to the event.

The KPASS Dance Team rehearsed their 7-minute routine during free time during the school day and after school, when possible. The routine consisted entirely of professional choreography from a mix of dance forms, including K-Pop, hip-hop, and Afrobeats. The team mixed music together so that all of the dancers involved could showcase a dance they’d worked hard to learn, and all of them came up with appropriately cool costumes and makeup.  

“The judges and the audience at the event were very impressed with the diverse collection of music and dances that the Seisen team presented, and their overall showmanship,” said Dr. Reimer, speaking on the response to the team’s performance at the event. “It was wonderful to hear the crowd cheering on and hyping up the team as they went through the routine they’d collaborated so diligently on to prepare.” The team’s hard work paid off, though, as they were awarded Silver for their efforts. 

In additional to the adjudication portions of the festival, all participants were also given workshops with the guest judges, all professional dancers of different genres working in the Tokyo area. Students learned short routines in Afrobeats, musical theatre, Bollywood dance, and Step dance. 

This was the second year that the KPASS Dance Festival has taken place, having started in May 2024. Seisen has gone both times since the inception, and this year’s team members have expressed they hope that Seisen will continue to participate each year that the festival continues to be offered to students within the KPASS network.

Seisen’s KPASS Dance Team on stage at the 2025 Festival. 

Seisen’s KPASS Dance Team holding their Silver Award at St. Maur International School at the 2025 Festival. 

To check out more photos and short videos from the workshops, check out the Vidigami folder of the event. 

To watch a video of the entire event, including Seisen’s team’s performance (at 1:38:15), check out the KPASS Dance YouTube channel.