Cyprus Comic Con is delighted to announce that HallyuCY, the ever-growing local community dedicated to the spread of South Korean pop culture in Cyprus, will be returning once again to CCC19!

Last October, HallyuCY celebrated its 7 year anniversary since the group’s creation in 2011 and after a series of successful events leading up to the new year, its team is currently working hard at preparing a very special program for this year’s comic con!

HallyuCY organise an array of local events and gatherings throughout the year, which include cozy Korean film nights, K-pop dance tutorials, Random Dance Challenges, Korean cooking lessons, K-pop Karaoke nights, Trivia Quiz events and other competitions, Hangul (Korean alphabet) learning, as well as arts and crafts sessions! In the online Facebook group, members can post about their favourite K-pop music, K-drama and films, share and exchange knowledge about different aspects of South Korean culture and generally bond and form friendships with like-minded individuals.

In 2017, HallyuCY collaborated with Cyprus Comic Con and co-organised the biggest K-Pop and K-Hiphop club night that Cyprus had ever seen, which took place at Club Teez in Nicosia and featured guest DJ Ping from Young Bros, a well-known K-pop party team based in the UK.

2018 was another great year for the community, marking their first collaboration with K-Cineplex Cinemas nationwide, for bringing not one, but *two* K-pop themed movies on the big screen in Cyprus, featuring the global phenomenon of the immensely talented group of BTS. The two events brought together hundreds of ARMY and K-pop fans across all of Cyprus and featured exclusive footage of BTS, including their full live concert in Seoul which was part of their 2018 ‘Love Yourself’ world tour.

HallyuCY’s future goals for 2019 and beyond, include further growing their local community in Cyprus, to continue to inform and educate interested individuals about South Korean culture and hopefully one day be able to organise even bigger events, such as a Korean Cultural Festival!

So, what does ‘Hallyu’ mean?

‘Hallyu’ (which literally translates to “flow of Korea”) also known as ‘The Korean Wave‘ is a neologism referring to the increase in popularity of South Korean culture in the rest of the world since the late 1990s. Some aspects of South Korean pop culture that have contributed to its popularity, include K-pop music, K-dramas (TV-series), the Korean language and cuisine, animated comics and films, technology.

K-Pop Dance Events Schedule for CCC19

HallyuCY’s Booth at CCC19

HallyuCY will be screening K-pop music videos throughout the whole weekend at Comic Con, so make sure to visit their booth for a taste of South Korean pop music! K-pop fans will be able to choose from a large selection of low-cost K-pop merchandise*, including posters, postcards, calendars, silicone wristbands, masks, keyrings, transparent cards and more, featuring all their favourite K-pop idols! In addition, HallyuCY will be selling their famous homemade delicious pepero (also known as pocky in Japan), a jumbo version of the popular chocolate-covered biscuit with various toppings, individually wrapped for you to enjoy at the convention, or to take home.

*All revenue at HallyuCY’s comic con booth every year is used to fund the group’s upcoming events as well as cover the community’s running expenses.

This year, HallyuCY is proud to feature the arts and crafts of Fotini Georgiou (fotinieonnie), who will be selling her handcrafted keyrings, coasters and other creations, as well as prints of her illustrations of popular K-pop groups.

HallyuCY’s Dance Team: SAD-G

In 2014, a small number of HallyuCY members came together to prepare a K-pop dance performance for the very first Cyprus Comic Con! They were nervous, completely self-taught, but eager to show just how much they loved K-pop music and dancing. Today in 2019, the group has since changed, expanded and evolved!

As its goals solidified, it was time to give this new and exciting project a name. The name ‘SAD-G‘ (Super Awesome Dance Group) came up right after the end of Cyprus Comic Con 2016, when the members decided that it was time to let more people in their group and further develop their dancing skills! Now, the team consists of six core members, with more joining at every practice session depending on which choreographies they are interested in learning.

Even though originally the team was formed for the sole purpose of performing at Comic Con, their focus and determination led them to performing at various other events, such as Random Dance Challenges, dance covers, and dance tributes to K-pop groups.

For the last couple of years, SAD-G have really been working hard on their Instagram and YouTube content, where they frequently upload videos of their dance tributes and performances, as well as fun bloopers from filming!

SAD-G is a multi-fandom group that doesn’t favour girl groups over boy groups, or vice versa. They cover a variety of choreographies, ranging from bubblegum pop such as Twice and Red Velvet, to more electronic and hip-hop sounds such as BTS and NCT. This progress has been possible through the expansion of the HallyuCY community – and of course the many K-pop fans they meet at Cyprus Comic Con every year!