Dance group Second Nature competed in the K-pop Battles Dance competition at LVL UP Expo in Las Vegas on April 26. The group won fifth in ‘The Best in Show’ division for the highest level in creativity.
Second Nature is a K-pop cover dance group composed of students who attend the University of Nevada, Reno. They have performed at multiple events at UNR, such as the Night of All Nations and Lunar New Year Festival. This was the team’s first year competing in this event. Second Nature competed with a dance team composed of eight members.
The team competed with two K-pop songs, “Rising Sun” by TVXQ and “Armageddon” by Aespa.
In an interview with a team member Paulane Tabug-os Tulop, a junior at the University studying computer science and engineering, she said she felt both excited and scared about performing.
“I’m so used to performing in front of college students at UNR, but now I have to perform in front of a much larger crowd,” Tulop said.
She said she has had fun with Second Nature and was glad she was able to improve her dancing with the help of the team.
The team practiced late into the night the Wednesday before the show, running through their routine multiple times while focusing on different components to improve their performance.
Second Nature practiced together once a week for a month when the team members weren’t busy with school and other responsibilities, and members also practiced solo on their own time.
Noheli Villegas, another team member and a junior at UNR majoring in marketing, said it was difficult preparing for the performances.
“I had a harder time getting some of the movements down, sometimes my body would reject my brain telling it [what] to do,” said Villegas.
Even though she was nervous about performing, Villegas said she was really excited as well.
“I think it’s something fun and I think it’s brought us even more together as a group,” Villegas said.
The group placed fifth overall in the competition.
“Considering it was our first time competing and performing at LVL UP, I think we did really well,” Tulop said.
Tulop also said the team had fun and was able to enjoy the experience of performing together at LVL UP, even though they didn’t win.
“As friends, we wanted to have a new and exciting experience to make memories together,” Villegas said.
