Meet Mumbai’s K-pop superstars

All eyes in the auditorium were on the five people on the stage waiting for their performance to begin Three of these performers were sitting on their haunches on the stage while two others were standing behind them Their hands were folded under their chests and they were looking at the ground Their first position could easily give away the Kpop song they had chosen for the competition Once the cues were given their heads popped up in sync to the lyrics ldquoAnttititi fragilerdquo and the audience in a SoBo venue started holleringAxiom members prepare their costumesldquoWe put in a lot of time to just decide which song to pick The song we performed last year was underrated We wanted to go with a more mainstream song this timerdquo reveals Axiom citybased Kpop dance group which won the regional round of the All India Kpop Contest 2023 This competition was hosted on July 25 in Cumballa Hillrsquos Sophia College to mark the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between Korea and India Axiom which came first in the regional round last year as well was under a lot of pressure because not only were people expecting a lot from them but this was also the first time they were going to perform offline in front of hundreds of diehard Kpop fans from across the city and suburbsThe challenge in this competition was to recreate an already existing Kpop song as closely as the participants could Axiom mdash a group of 17 dancers of whom only five took part in the competition as per availability for practice and final showdown mdash worked for over a month to perfect the dance routine and the costumes ldquoWhen it comes to Kpop stage presence confidence and expression are the most important elementsrdquo reveals 21yearold Dishita Thakkar who founded the group in 2021 ldquoAfter we picked our song Antifragile by LE Sserafim we spent so many hours scouring the markets for the right fabric and accessories to get the look we imagined We tailored and designed our costumes by cutting and shaping our jeans or painting our fabrics wherever required It took a lot of effort especially because everyone has other academic and internshiprelated commitments and we live far from each other toordquoOf the five people who were performing Thakkar and 18yearold Khushi Bhatt reside in Malad 19yearold Saisha Nirmal is from Bandra 21yearold Aparna Menon is from Goregaon and 19yearold Rishabh Sadasivan is a Thanekar ldquoWe started as online friends from the Indian Kpop communityrdquo says Thakkar about the girls Sadasivan joined four months ago after Axiom started adding boys to the group for the first time after an auditionThe grouprsquos choreography replicates the opening position of AntifragileStressing on the importance of parental support for such a venture the girls reveal ldquoSometimes we return home late after practice At first our parents thought this group was just about fun and games But as Axiom started growing they realised that it is so much more than that They are all very proud of us They keep sharing links of our dance on our family groups We are not even sure our relatives understand what Kpop is but they stay updated with all our dance routines mdash thanks to our parentsrdquo Axiom currently has over 30000 followers on Instagram They get many offers to collaborate with brands which assures that the group is financially supported tooFor Thakkar who was bullied in high school dancing became the way she coped and Axiom became her confidence family and support system ldquoAxiom may never become our fulltime job This is something we all do to escape from our daily lives Giving it the name of a career might take away the fun part of it For now it is a passion project And even though we started out as a Kpop dance group and it will continue to remain a huge part of us wersquore not restricting ourselves to the genre As the group keeps building and growing we are open to all dancerelated opportunitiesrdquoThe group is now preparing for the semifinal round of the competition later this month where winners from different regions of the country will compete in Delhi Wersquoll be rooting for these Mumbaikar Kpop stars to rock the stageLog on to axiomshyshyshyshyshy_official_ Instagram axiomofficial on YouTube for complete regional round performance