K-Pop Party Bari 2022
Korea Week Bari 2022
As part of the Bari Korea Week event at 15:30 on Sunday, May 22, 2022, the ‘K-POP Party 2022 Bari’ K-Pop Dance and Vocal Contest was successfully held.
The Korean Cultural Center, in cooperation with Bari Municipality and Apulia Region, held a K-pop dance and vocal contest during the Bari Korea Week event from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on May 22, 2022 at the 'Kursaal Santalucia' Theater in Bari.
The event was attended by 300 people, including Grazia Di Bari, Director of Culture of the Apulia Region, Vitandrea Marzano of the Mayor's Office of Bari City, and Bianca Bellino of the Kursaal Project of Apulia Region.
More than 300 people in the audience gathered, but some people who came late had to return without being able to attend due to insufficient seats in the auditorium.
The audiences sang along to all the K-pop songs of the contest, and in particular, during the stage of the contestants in the vocal section, the lights on their smartphones were turned on and the performances were swaying left and right to the song, which showed the surprise of Bari and Puglia officials.
In the K-Pop Dance and Vocal Contest, 6 K-pop cover dance teams (5 solo teams, 1 group) and 1 vocal team selected through online preliminaries competed in the final stage. The Best Vocal Award went to Alessandra Fortugno, a high school girl who sang Big Bang Taeyang's song 'Eyes, Nose, and Mouth', and the Best Dance Solo Award went to Alessandra Carlomagno, who covered the choreography of Everglow's 'Ladida'. 'Sky Crew', a dance team composed of 4 students who covered Aespa's 'Dreams Come True', won the Best Dance Group Award.
Prior to the contest award ceremony, congratulatory speeches were given by Lee Seong-ho, Ambassador of Italy to Italy and Nancy Dell’Olio, Ambassador of Puglia.
Ambassador Lee Seong-ho to Italy said, “I never expected that there would be so many people interested in Korea. The atmosphere of the concert hall was like being in a Korean music show. I want to say that all the participants put on a great stage and that they worked hard. I hope that interest in Korean culture will continue in the future, so that active cultural exchanges between Korea and Puglia can take place, and friendly relations between Korea and Italy can be strengthened.”
Nancy dell'Olio, Ambassador of Puglia, said, “This Korea Week event is a project that was created in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Italy, the Korean Cultural Center, Puglia Region and Bari Municipality. The fact that so many young people participated in the Korea Week event proves that the residents of Puglia have an open awareness and attitude towards other cultures, and that Bari and Puglia have the potential to further grow and leap forward internationally. I hope that Korea Week will lead to more active cultural exchanges between Korea and Puglia and to promote economic exchanges.”
Grazia Di Bari, director of culture in Apulia, who watched the contest, said, “This K-pop event was a meaningful opportunity to confirm that Apulia youths are very interested in Korean culture. It was a very amazing experience. I am also very happy to know that there are young people with amazing talent in Apulia.”
Vitandrea Marzano, an official from the mayor's office in Bari Municipality, said, "I knew that K-pop is popular among young people, but I didn't know that it was gaining such an explosive popularity. I am very satisfied with the high youth participation rate in this Korea Week event. I hope that we can continue to cooperate with the Korean Embassy and Korean Cultural Center in the future.”
“It was such a great event,” said Maria Rosa from the audience. My son was so happy and he wanted to go up on stage and dance with him,” she said.
The Korean Cultural Center will continue to hold K-Pop contests in the host country or support local K-Pop contests to provide opportunities and places for K-Pop clubs in Italy to expand their networks.
